By the time they are 7 years old, one in four kids has engaged in some sort of dieting behavior.
Unrealistic standards of beauty and body image are more hurtful to our girls than you can imagine.
On a daily basis girls are inundated with messages telling them they aren’t good enough just the way they are. They aren’t flawless. They aren’t pretty enough. They aren’t thin enough.
The girls see what’s happening around them and had some interesting things to say about it:
“In the media you see all these images of the ideal body type and how you should be really skinny and look a certain way and be a certain weight.”
“There’s this picture of me at camp and I was in, I don’t know, third or fourth grade and like I’m in a bikini, I was really young, it’s a picture of me and all my friends and we’re like sucking in even though we’re only in like third or fourth grade.”
“The fact that we were all weighing ourselves at a birthday party, that’s kinda scary.”
“It would be a contest, who lost the most weight at camp.”
Body image is influenced by many things, but media is one of the largest factors in how our kids view themselves. Our kids need to be exposed to those who are positive role models for self-acceptance, and those who use their bodies to achieve something other than just to look good. We need to teach them that everyone is different, and that everyone is OK exactly how they are.
The media may not teach kids to love their bodies, but you can.
To help engage your kids in some body-positive activities, download our activity guide PDF here.
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