How to Help Your Child Build a Positive Body Image
Female: You're probably not surprise to find it can take a teenager a whole lot of time to pick out the perfect outfit.
Stephanie Olofson: It depends on what I'm doing and where I'm going and who’s going to be there.
Female: But what might surprise you is just how early children particularly girls begin worrying the way they look. Studies have shown that more than half of fourth grade girls want to be thinner than they are and between 40% and 80% have already begun dieting.
Marjorie Hogan: Probably through the school years because of all the influence on children, what your body looks like, how you compare to other children becomes very, very important.
Female: Fourteen year old Samantha Olofson says when she was younger; she had a diminished self image.
Samantha Olofson: A little bit between seventh and eight-grade I really was like not feeling the way I am now and really like down on my self about how I look on the outside. And then my parents helped me get through that point and my best friends and so like that.
Female: How can parents help their children build a positive body image? Here are a few pointers. Show your child that attractive bodies come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Explain to her that how people look is a large part determined by genetics. Tell her that how healthy she feels is more important than how much she weighs. Avoid badmouthing your own body or obsessing about your own weight. And most importantly focus on your child’s strengths and show her you love her no matter what she looks like.
Marjorie Hogan: I love your healthy strong body. I'm so glad that you're my child, you're beautiful. All of those messages will make a child accept and like who they are.
Female: The Olofson family actively participates in girls scouting. Sister Stephanie and Samantha spend some of their free time volunteering at their local counsel office.
Stephanie Olofson: I think girls scout has helped me a lot through my leadership and having self confidence and knowing that I can go somewhere and have girls scout meeting with people who care as much about as I do it helps a lot.
Jane Olofson: I've been their girls scout leader for years and years and years and that program is superb. It gives immediate training and the books and the knowledge I needed to help prepare them.
Female: While parents and peers help influence how a child perceives herself, pediatrician say the media can also have an enormous impact. Therefore, monitoring what your child reads, hears, and watches is essential. And Dr. Hogan suggests letting your children know that images and messages in the media are meant to make money.
Marjorie Hogan: It’s all about economics and that’s why we can say to children media is creative, understand what you're seeing and it’s not real life.
Female: Dr. Hogan says it helps for parents to think back to when they were young and remember what it was like to want to fit in with the group.
Marjorie Hogan: It’s part of becoming a healthy adult to go through that stage of saying “okay I'm accepted as an adolescent. I look like him, I look like her. We like the same music. We like the same movies. It’s normal.
Female: Life seems to be progressing normally for the Olofson family. Stephanie and Samantha say they now enjoy fashion and teen magazines for their content and don’t get bug down with the idea of a perfect body.
Jane Olofson: I think that as far as their own self inside, they have really reached the point that I would like to have them. And if they ever walk out of my life tomorrow, I would be very proud of them.
Female: Samantha’s advise to others.
Samantha Olofson: Just be able to look in the mirror and say don’t you ever die because you love yourself that much.
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