A very important concern for parents today is how to stop body image issues. You might be wondering, how do I promote a positive body image? Or even, how to stop body image issues before they start?
You play a very important role in how your daughter feels about her body. The things that you say concerning your body and the body of other women play a huge role in how your daughter thinks.
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What is Body Image?
Body image is how a person thinks their body looks and if that look is acceptable to others. A negative body image can cause a person to feel like they are not good enough and ashamed of themselves.
Having a negative body image can lead to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and poor self-esteem.
Related Post: How to Cope With Anxiety by Creating a Self-Care Routine
How Do Girls Feel About Their Bodies?
Have you wondered how girls really feel about their bodies? Check out this video from allure where they talk to girls ages 6 to 18 about their body image.
Body Image Issues in Girls: How You Can Help?
When you have a daughter, it is important that you pay close attention to the body image issue. While all genders have the potential to care about how they look, it does tend to be a bigger problem with girls, since there is more pressure put on them to look a certain way.
The following tips are going to help you raise your daughter to have a positive body image, which is extremely important.
Focus on Your Daughter’s Personality and Intelligence
It is okay to compliment your daughter on the way she looks, but don’t only focus on appearance. Get into the habit of giving her all types of compliments.
Make sure you focus on her skills, talents, creativity, intelligence, accomplishments, and personality traits.
Let her know you are proud of everything she has done. Tell her that you admire her strength and bravery, and that you are proud of her trying new things.
When you don’t put as much emphasis on how your daughter looks, she won’t think about it as much either. She will understand that a person’s appearance is not all they have.
Be Careful What You Say and Do
How you carry yourself and what you say about your own body makes more of a difference than you might think. Your daughter is watching you, even when you don’t realize it.
Don’t give her a good reason to mimic your actions and then try to do or say the same things about herself. It’s
Talking bad about your weight, complaining the scale isn’t moving, or constantly trying new fad diets will not teach her anything that will be good for her own body image.
Be Honest About People in the Media
Your daughter is going to see people in the
It is essential that you keep talking to her about realistic expectations and women’s bodies. Explain that these women might have different circumstances, from a personal trainer and restricted diet, to simply being born with that frame.
Also, educate her on the fact that most images in the media are edited. Make sure she knows that digital editing is utilized to make women look different then they are in real life.
It can be a hard discussion to have, but your daughter needs to understand that no two people are alike or will look the same. Keep reminding your daughter that she should be healthy and proud of the body she has.
Stress Health Over Appearance
It is important that your daughter understands the difference between being healthy and how a person looks. Every skinny person is not healthy. Also, every person with larger body sizes is not unhealthy.
Every person has their own version of healthy. And each of us should strive to reach our own person health goals. We should never try to look like someone else.
When speaking to your daughter, try to find the balance between encouraging healthy eating and exercise, but not putting so much emphasis on appearance.
Leave a comment and share how you promote a healthy body image to your daughter.
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I love the emphasis put on health, intelligence, and personality! My mom always focused on healthy living, balance, and complimenting my talents more than my appearance, but so often people around me would compliment my appearance rather than who I was as a person. I don’t have kids yet, but when I’m around children I always make sure to compliment their skills and personality rather than focusing solely on physical attributes.
That is a great practice. We must engrain in our kids that they have more to offer than their appearance.
You offer some great advice here concerning how to help our daughters overcome body perception issues. My oldest daughter is sixteen and she has Asperger’s. She has a younger mind than body, but her teenage hormones have contributed to her self-consciousness about how others see her and how she sees herself. So, we’ve been working with her to understand that everyone is different and that’s part of what makes the world so beautiful. We had a hard time getting through to her with conversation only, so we gave her some therapeutic exercises like writing affirmational statements that focus on the positive aspects of her character, personality, and personal beauty. That has seemed to help, but she still won’t wear anything that shows her arms or legs (because of skin blemishes) and she doesn’t like wearing things that show her figure. That’s not necessarily bad, I know, but it does make me worry about her inner self-talk. I just don’t ever want her to be ashamed of who she is, her body, or the things that make her special. I’m going to take your advice here to heart and be sure to utilize these points when talking with her. Thanks for posting on this topic. Be well!
Thank you for sharing Lisa. I think if you keep pushing the right message she will eventually learn to accept who she is and love herself as is. Allow her to see all the great things about her that have nothing to do with her body.
Thank you for educating us on this as a lot of parents needs to see this . Our self esteem must be intact and what we also impact to our daughters. Amazing article. X
You’re welcome! You are very right… our self-esteem plays a big role in what we teach our daughters.
My daughter is 5 months old, but I want her to grow up knowing how wonderful she is. This is perfect.
That is awesome… continue to make sure she knows how special she is.
Thank you for this article. Yes my method is to stress health over appearance. I like to convince my daughter that as long as she is making healthy choices it doesn’t matter what she looks like.
That is a great message to give your daughter. Health and wellness over appearance. Love it!
Awesome reminder! This is something that I keep in my mind every time I think negative thoughts towards my own body. I make sure to never talk about it. Instead I dig deep and love my belly in front of my children. I hope that this effort makes them realize that all bodies, big and small are beautiful. Xo
You are setting exactly the right example. Always love yourself… no matter what.
How important is this topic when we have a daughter. All around, TV, Internet and social media give us a “perfect body” and we need to teach our girls how important is to love ourselves inside and outside. Excellent post!
So true… we have to counter what all types of media are teaching our girls. They are more than their outward appearance.