Archive for the ‘Children: Self Confidence’ Category

Body image is a learned behavior. It’s learned from society, peers and family and it stays with us for life.

The effect of society on body image

The benchmark here is the fashion and entertainment industries. When you see fashion models are they realistically proportioned people? NO!!! The vast majority of them fit an extremely narrow segment of society… those with an hourglass figure. Most female models in particular are size 4-8… despite the average size being 12-14. Keep in mind that these girls are most probably underweight. If we compare ourselves to them, of course we end up feeling like big fat blimps!

It’s important to teach your children that very few people could ever fit this ideal since it is based on the classic hourglass figure and only 5% of people have this figure type. For anyone else to reach these proportions it would be physically impossible, not to mention extremely unhealthy. If your child is in their mid teens it’s probably a good idea to help them identify their own body type to help avoid comparisons. If they DO have an hourglass figure it’s probably best to focus on healthy body size… you might want to calculate their BMI with them. To learn how to do this visit How to calculate BMI

The effect of peers on body image

Children are extremely impressionable and dependent upon the approval of others. So when their peers say they are fat, ugly or whatever, children take it to heart. Of course, children don’t have the maturity to understand what is and isn’t a healthy size. Combine that with the fact that children can be extremely cruel because they haven’t learned to treat others as they want to be treated. These factors mean a child can receive some extremely negative messages about their body at a time when they desperately need positive affirmations.

The effect of family on body image

While most of the blame for body image issues goes to the fashion and entertainment industries, what children see at home can also have a negative impact. For example, when we make negative comments about our body our children hear that and trust our opinion… we’re their parents after all, adults who must therefore be right about these things… NOT!!! Children use our opinions to create their own perceptions of appropriate body size. Thus, the more negative we are, the more negative they learn to be. This relates to any part of the body, whether it be our bottom, thighs, love handles, face, arms, neck, whatever part of our body we don’t like. Unfortunately, children learn from that.

Constantly talking about being ‘on a diet’ or ‘trying to lose weight’ has the same effect. Think of ‘diet’ as a dirty word! Again, children learn from this. All they have is inaccurate perceptions provided by other people. Without educated knowledge of what is and isn’t a healthy body size it can have a very detrimental effect on their body image.

It is important to educate children about their body as they approach those turbulent teenage years when they start to take control of their own lives and truly become an individual. But how do we do this so they will develop a healthy body image?

Here are a few tips:

1. Avoid making negative comments about YOUR body in front of your child, even if you think they’re not around.
2. Switch negative comments to positive by changing the ‘I’m on a diet’ line to ‘I’m being health conscious’ (being on a diet is negative, being health conscious is positive). Don’t mention trying to lose weight especially if you’re only trying to lose a small amount
3. Avoid making negative comments about their body like ‘gosh you’re getting chubby’ because if their peers are making comments you’ll just be reinforcing the negative body image
4. Help your child understand that society has an unrealistic ideal because they focus on only one body type when there are many body types (and show them those body types). Teach them how trying to conform to society’s unrealistic ideal is not only impossibe, but extremely unhealthy when they don’t have that body type.
5. Help your child understand that their peers are just spouting what they see in the fashion and entertainment industry when they make negative comments about one anothers bodies.
6. If they need to lose weight, don’t tell them you’re putting them on a diet, just substitute some healthy options like fruit for high energy, high sugar, high fat content snacks.
7. Most importantly – Make sure you provide positive affirmations about their physical appearance like; you have a good figure, you’re well built, you’re pretty/handsome etc

Many people have bad experiences in their childhood including with eating habits. Some parents allow their children to eat anything they like simply because it’s easier than trying to encourage healthy eating habits. Often, parents are so busy that a fast meal of pizza or fish fingers and oven baked fries is easier than preparing a traditional meal of meat and three vegetables. Consequently, many children will experience the side effects of these unhealthy practices with the occurrence of health problems long into their adult years.

As parents, we are responsible to feed our kids and protect them from developing eating disorders as much as we possibly can. Healthy eating habits should be established during childhood to help them adapt easily to strict health diets.Unfortunately, children and teenagers are more likely than adults to develop eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia nervosa, compulsive eating disorder and binge eating disorder. The reason for this is because children have neither the maturity nor the knowledge to understand what is and isn’t a healthy body image. Combine these factors with the fact that children and teenagers are overly sensitive to the opinions of their peers and you have a volatile mix of negative issues that can really mess with your child’s head. This is why it is crucial for us as parents to develop healthy eating habits and a healthy, realistic body image in our children.

Many health problems in young children are related to their eating habits. However, even if you provide them the proper food groups in their meals, they can still develop eating disorders if the issue of body image is not addressed. Children frequently have no interest in eating fruits and vegetables. In these days of fast foods and even faster lifestyles, it is only natural that children would show a preference for junk foods that are high in fats and sugars. Therefore, the responsibility to convince and motivate them to practice a healthy lifestyle depends on how you implement the dietary foods they need. You may want to follow these tips about how to help your child maintain a healthy body on their own.

Firstly, teaching your children when to eat is very important in controlling their diet. Most eating disorders in children are the results of miscommunication between the child and the parent about the right amount and type of meal to be served. Be considerate in providing food that your children love to eat but keep in control about the type and amount they are allowed to eat. By doing this, you can balance their diet without forcing them to follow a low fat diet. You should also discuss with them the side effects of not practicing healthy eating habits (including obesity). Allowing them to control their eating habits on their own can be a good start in helping them adapt a healthy lifestyle.

Moreover, do not use rewards and punishments in motivating them to eat healthy foods. Instead educate them about the health benefits of the food they eat and be constructive on how to approach them. Instead of forcing them to eat well, you can say that they can feel much better if they eat the right foods. Most eating disorders in children are significantly affected by their emotions. Therefore, you should always use a positive approach on fulfilling your children’s needs especially about choosing what they should eat and what they should not.

Compulsive overeating can be very difficult to address, especially when a child has difficulty in coping with changes in the daily eating habit. This can be a major problem for children since they are more active and are therefore more prone to becoming hungry compared to adults. Although you can find a compulsive eating disorder treatment nowadays, it is still best to prevent the main causes of this behavior before such treatment becomes necessary.

Finding a compulsive eating disorder treatment may require you to analyze the major causes of this condition. According to experts in behavior of children, most children experiencing this eating disorder have an emotional dependency on the food they like to eat. Emotional eating is a potential threat to your child’s health since it can make it impossible to follow a healthy diet and cause obesity. Although this can be a very serious health problem, this can still be treated by compulsive eating disorder treatment. It is very important to make the necessary steps to correct your child’s eating habits as soon as possible to prevent further problems that may arise when they reach their teenage years. Aside from health problems, the discrimination of society toward obese people is a serious emotional concern for your child if not addressed. Forcing kids to undergo compulsive eating disorder treatment by identifying the main source of the problem may not be easy when the case is crucial to the health of the child. However, you can implement other activities to reduce the tendency to overeat.

You may want to consider the following tips to help alleviate compulsive eating. Firstly, having a regular five-minute walk can help your children keep away from thinking about eating all the time. This involves distracting the child from thoughts of food and can be very helpful in battling food cravings as well as the impulse of the body to reach for the food available on the refrigerator. Moreover, introducing your child to have a phone friend can also help them control their eating habits. Having someone to talk to your children can reduce their attention to food cravings during free time.

Another method is to substitute healthy foods where they would usually be eating cakes, biscuits, chips and muesli bars. This reduces both calorie and fat intake as well as providing nutritional elements that are crucial to children’s growth.

Lastly, putting smaller meals on their plate or lunch boxes can help them have a limit on their food intake. (The substitution method works well here as well). Although this may seem a little too much for your child to bear, this can be very effective in helping them reduce their calorie intake and the same time, significantly remove their tendency to eat more.