In our book Being Me (And Loving It) there is a lovely story of a young girl who has a sticky out tummy and learns to love her tummy as much as the rest of her. She does not see it is fat or abnormal and she is really happy when her friend says she loves her tummy. If only all children felt that way about their bodies and that all children were supportive and accepting of other peoples shapes and sizes. That would be wonderful. There is too much focus on bodies and the way they look and actually what we should focus on is what bodies do and learn the importance of personality is everything.
Body Shaming Article
I read an article last week about body shaming and the stats are pretty scary. Children as young as 6 are body shaming other children. Why do they think it is acceptable to do that? Are parents commenting on how other people look when they walk down the street or from what they see on television?
The article focuses on how children see children who are bigger than they are and when asked who their friends were only mentioned the ‘normal sized’ children. There is definitely something wrong in the way we are bringing up our children as they should not be ostracising other kids. We need to be educating them at home about body shape and size and why everyone has different physiques and where their focus should lie when making friends – a good friend will have certain qualities – not look a certain way. Children should also be focussing on what their bodies are capable and the miracles it can perform.
Have a read of the article and think what else could you be doing as a parent to help change this situation?
(PHOTO CREDIT: Image courtesy of Clare Bloomfield at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
