Kids and body image: "Mom, do these jeans make me look fat?"

Thankfully, my kids have never asked me a question like "Mom, do these jeans make me look fat?" At least not yet. In a playground discussion the other day we started talking about our kids, body image, the growing number of children struggling with weight issues, such as obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, anorexia and bulimia.

I've been intrigued by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, which adresses self-esteem and healthy body image for girls. Has anyone investigated into that yet? I keep meaning to, but still haven't gotten to it. Are there any online tools or resources for boys? We are big fans of the preschool-set book I Like Myself , by Karen Beaumont.

To what degree are you concerned about your children and body image? Are there any proactive things you are doing now to ensure your kids grow up with a healthy body image?

Comments

[Rob Bremmer]

This is a big topic. I teach a class at Portland State where each term we come up with a community topic to address. We came close to addressing, researching and developing a blog/website on body image, which ultimately came in slightly behind our chosen research topic, toxins and contaminants in food. (Hey, everyone eats!)

In our early research the gender split over body image for boys vs. girls was raised. Men in the class confirmed the problem of body image for teenage boys driving them to at least consider various muscle enhancing and body building chemicals and drugs. The topic is still quite valid.

Your blog is great! Keep up the good work.

Rob Bremmer
rob.bremmer@gmail.com

[Heather]

I'm so glad you posted on this topic. I'm always startled when I read about the increasing number of teens with eating disorders and 16-year olds getting boob jobs for their birthdays. Body image issues can take many forms -- I was painfully self-conscious in my early teens because I was very tall and bean-pole skinny (nickname Olive Oyl) and always felt like I "stood out", and not in a good way. But I don't think I had any great talents, athletic skills or academic prowess to take my mind off of it. (Or at least any talents I had, like playing the saxophone, weren't cool enough to pursue.) My passion was popularity.

I guess I hope I can instill some passions in my kids in hopes that their body image will be a secondary consideration. Encourage them to get involved in sports, arts, music, I'm not sure. You told me once that you hope your daughters are NOT popular, that they find other things to focus on. It seems like a weird thing to hope for your kids, but I think it might be healthy. Maybe teaching them to respect others, not to judge, and hopefully they won't judge themselves too harshly. I sure hope others post comments on this topic; I'd love to get some perspective.

[Brooke]

When I was told that the child I had just birthed was a boy I said, "good". How much of that was body image consciousness? A fair amount I would say, but you would have to know me to understand. My relationship with food, my body and emotions have been inextricably intertwined since I was a very young girl and it hasn't been positive. It is not something I would like to pass on to my child. Now, my husband and I sit at the dinner table telling Mason, "food is energy", "eat for energy" and I can feel good knowing that his father will be a role model for him and the pressure is off me. Is it still relevant - I'd say so. Do I work on it every day? You bet I do.

[Robyn]

I highly recommend you check out the Evolution film at the Dove campaign website (that you link to above). It's so well done and is a powerful tool in showing our daughters that the "beauty" they see in magazines and such is so distorted. I watched it with my 6 and 8 year old girls as a starting off point for a discussion about inner and outer beauty and body image. It made a real impact on them.