Helping Your Child Develop Self-Esteem: Talking To Children About Body Confidence

At one time, it was rare for body image issues to affect children. Today, our children's (both pre-teen and teen ) body image concerns are burgeoning. Children's web sites and chat rooms dedicated to thinspiration, anorexia, and bulimia are frequent landing places for our children, and have a great affect on their body confidence and self-esteem.

Rebecca Manley, President and Founder of the Massachusetts Eating Disorders Association (MEDA), has created Teaching Body Confidence, a webinar available through KidsTerrain www.kidsterrain.com.

Recognizing Your Child's Body Confidence and Self-Esteem Issues

First, it is important to understand what is body confidence. Body confidence is the way we feel about our bodies and our appearance. It's how we perceive ourselves when we look in the mirror; and it's how we feel living in our own bodies.

"A positive body confidence is accepting yourself as you are and feeling good in the bodies we have," say Manley. "It's about embracing our perfection and our imperfections."

Children who lack body confidence dislike just about everything about their looks, regardless of the reality. They see themselves as too fat, ugly, flabby, constantly comparing themselves to others.

Body confidence greatly affects a child's self-esteem. Self-esteem is about valuing yourself, feeling worthwhile, having a sense of identity and self-worth. Kids who have body confidence and high self-esteem will enjoy life more.

Girls are not the only ones with body confidence issues. While there is certainly more pressure on girls to look a certain way, boys are feeling that pressure, too. More and more we are seeing boys with body confidence issues. While girls think they should be model thin, boys think they should look like athletes.

When Negative Body Confidence Become A Serious Concern

Most kids have some feature or body type they wish they could change. It's when that dream body image becomes an obsession that the warning signals should be addressed. Other warning signs to watch for revolve around eating disorders. Changes in eating behavior are often a sign that the child has body confidence issues.

Learn More About Body Confidence

You will find additional information about body confidence on the KidsTerrain web site at http://www.kidsterrain.com. Visit our FAQs pages, suggested reading lists, and webinars on body image and self-esteem.