Recently we invited Dr Louise George and Ariana Elias to present to our parents and students on the topic Raising Body Confident Kids. Both Louise and Ariana are psychologists with extensive clinical and research experience in the field of eating disorders and body image concerns. Sadly this topic is highly relevant to many primary aged students who have unhealthy body image.
Body image refers to the mental picture that we have of our body, based on feelings rather than the actual physical appearance. Body dissatisfaction is the negative thoughts and feelings we have about our bodies. Some of the signs for detecting body dissatisfaction include unusual moodiness, sudden weight changes, over exercising, obsessive self-scrutiny, negative comments about the body and altered eating patterns. The presenters spoke about four key topics. I have addressed two of these topics in this post and will outline the next two in next week’s post.
The media is a critical factor that shapes our cultural ideal of beauty. The media portrays the ideal body of as thin and muscular. Media literacy encourages students to ask questions about what they watch, read and hear. To encourage media literacy at home parents should consider the following ideas:
Social media that is most prevalent for students 8-11 years is YouTube. Research has shown that repeated viewing of popular music videos leads to body dissatisfaction in children. Parents have the right to ban music videos that are inappropriate and should seek to broaden their children’s musical tastes by exposing them to artists of all shapes and sizes. Below are some questions for parents to help children critically evaluate music videos:
Social media that are widespread for children 12-17 years are Facebook and Instagram. It is important to remember that minimum age restriction for these social media networks is 13 years of ages. This restriction is imposed due to research on child development. The ‘like’ function in Facebook and Instagram can have damaging effects on children as they are receiving instant feedback based purely on their appearance. Children can spend hours using image manipulation software to portray an ideal image to their audience. They go through their own life unfiltered, but watch the lives of others as filtered images. The advertising on social media can also promote negative messages on body image. Four strategies for parents to assist with managing Facebook and Instagram are as follows:
