Information for Parents

Parents

As a parent, it is important to realize that your own body image influences your children. It is essential that you are a good role model, with healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle giving importance to exercise. A healthy self-esteem and self-acceptance, based on your character, talents and accomplishments is also essential. Judging yourself and others on the basis of body shape can rub off onto your children. They pay attention to the way you talk about yourself and your body.

Examine closely your dreams and goals for your children. Be careful not to over-emphasizing beauty and body shape. Avoid conveying an attitude which says in effect, “I will like you more if you are thin, or look how good that model looks” etc .

Discourage the idea that larger is “bad” and thinner is “good”. Discuss the fact that happiness will not be found from being of a certain size or weight. Practice taking people seriously for what they say, feel, and do, not for how slender or “well put together” they appear.

Educate your children about the natural diversity of human bodies and celebrate your body’s unique shape and size. Teach them the ugliness of prejudice and judging people on the way they look.

Accept your children just the way they are. Find ways to show your children that you love them with all their defects and that it’s what they do and not what they look like that’s important. Praise them for theirintellectual, athletic, and social endeavours. Do whatever you can to promote the self-esteem and self-respect of your children. A well-rounded sense of self, and solid self-esteem are perhaps the best antidotes to dieting and disordered eating.

A healthy lifestyle shouldn’t be about the ideal weight, but about a balanced diet with all the necessary vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and yes, fats. Labeling of food as good or bad should be avoided. All foods can be eaten in moderation – cutting out certain foods may result in a sense of ‘deprivation’ in children which will be counter-productive as it will result in them wanting it all the more. Encourage your children to follow a habitual eating pattern, eating when hungry and stopping when full. It may be a good idea to involve your children in the preparation of healthy, nutritious snacks and meals.

Having regular family meals is extremely significant. In these situations food becomes associated with something safe and enjoyable. It is therefore vital that meal time is a peaceful environment. Take this opportunity to catch up with your kids, to introduce them to new foods and find out which ones they like. It could be a challenge to get your teen to join you for family meals, since it is a time when they’re striving for independence. Yet studies show that they still want their parents’ advice and counsel, so use mealtime as a chance to reconnect.Ways to encourage them could be including them in the meal planning or preparation, or inviting a friend for dinner. Do avoid arguing during this time.

Exercise should also be encouraged as a fun, family activity as frequently as possible. Teach thatexercise is there to enjoy and be healthy, not to purge fat from your body and compensate for calories, or achieve popularity or perfection.

One should not avoid certain activities such as swimming, sunbathing and dancing, because of his or her appearance, or wear uncomfortable clothes for the sake of looking better. This attitude may be detrimental to a child’s body image and may give rise to eating disorders.

Unfortunately our media bombards us with images of perfect bodies and seem to portray acceptance of only one body type. It is imperative that as a parent this image is not given importance. Discuss with your children, and teach them to appreciate that what the media portrays is a distorted image of how things really are. Help them realize that having a slender figure does not make you popular, powerful or perfect in the least.

Last but not least, parents should keep an eye out for bullying, and find ways to prevent and eliminate it if present.