Top 10 Ways To Foster A Healthy Body Image In Your Children

Look in the mirror. Do you see an apple, pear, or hourglass shape? Is what you are looking at elicit any negative emotion?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, you have, on some level, a body image issue.

We have all suffered a less than wonderful view about our bodies at some point in our life. It may have been through the awkward prepubescent years, or after your post-baby transformation.

As adults, we can seek support, and rationalize through most of our negative self-talk, but for a child, when body image is viewed poorly it can have drastic repercussions.

Thankfully, as a parent, we get the privilege of building our children up, to help them realize their potential, and to counter any doubts they may have about themselves.

Jill Di Donato, writing for Romper has useful detail on body image in children, she reported:

I spoke to Judith C. Kuppersmith, a New York-based psychologist, for her guidance about when and how to start this important dialogue. She explains the body image awareness begins before babies are even verbal, noting that “the psychological birth of the infant begins at around three months when infants begin to experience their bodies as separate from their caregivers.” Kuppersmith also suggests that the relationship between touch and talk equally contributes to the body image of children. Scholastic’s Early Childhood Today guide to ages and stages of body awareness confirms that newborns have an “emerging, unconscious ‘body sense’ [that helps them] orient” themselves in the world.”

This process begins very early in life, so implementing these important tools from the beginning is essential.

But how do we effectively instill a positive body image in our children?

Here are 10 ways you can keep a positive light on body image in your children, giving them a cutting edge on the woes that plague many Americans today, such as depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety.