How to Help Your Child Develop a Healthy Body Image? 3 Important Tips to Raise a Resilient Child

Living in a world full of advertisements and celebrities deciding what is “beautiful”, the way you and your child view your body gets affected.

But trends come and go, how do I ensure that my child has a resilient mind and a healthy relationship with their body through the changing trends? Keep reading to explore:

How to Help Your Child Develop a Healthy Body Image
3 Important Tips to Raise a Resilient Child
And much more!

How to Help Your Child Develop a Healthy Body Image

1. Role Model a Healthy Relationship with Your Body

The main way that children learn to interact with others, maintain social relationships and work through difficulties is through role modeling. In other words, they admire and look up to us adults to understand how the world works and what is the right way to respond.

Generally, parents are considered the very first role-models for their children. So, the way you think, feel and treat your body is crucial.

If you have a good relationship with your body, it is likely that the child will behave accordingly and develop a healthy body image as well.

If you are currently struggling with your body image then you can consider practicing self-compassion to help improve that relationship.

For instance, take the time to reflect on your relationship with your body. You can answer some of the following questions:

How do you feel about it?

What do you think when you look at yourself?

What do you dislike about your body?

If a close friend were to look at their body the same way, how would you feel about it?

Why not consider treating yourself similarly?

2. Reframe The Way We Think About Our Body

As adults surrounded by the world of advertisements and especially social media, we tend to place a lot of emphasis on our physical appearance.

We also tend to compare ourselves to societal standards that are ever-changing. What was considered “beautiful” 10 years ago is very different from what is considered beautiful now, and the same case goes for the coming 10 years as well.

Instead of solely focusing on physical appearance, we can teach children about diversity, different body types, and embracing them as a normal and beautiful part of being human.

Ultimately, the goal is to think about our body in terms of its functioning, and if focus is needed on physical appearance, then we talk about how differences in body types, shapes and sizes should be thought of without any judgment.

Reframing Thoughts – Example
When thinking: “My skin tone is much darker than others. Nobody in my class has curly hair like I do!”This shows a negative thought and resultant negative feelings about the way we look.
We can think: “My skin tone helps protect me from the sun. My skin tone and curly hair make me different but being different is not a bad thing”This shows body positivity and even body neutrality. If you struggle to think positively, we can aim to be neutral and state the facts in the bigger picture.

3. Build Up Your Child’s Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the way we value and think about ourselves. Raising a child with a high self-esteem is important so that they are ready to face the challenges of the world.

When it comes to talking about their body image:

Take the time to understand their perspective and how they feel about their bodies.
Give them the power to be assertive and say ‘no’ when other people pass remarks about their body.
Focus on what your child’s body can do, not what it looks like. Encouragement highlighting their body’s abilities (e.g., “You swam so fast! I didn’t know you could do that.) are more likely to reinforce a healthier body image in children.
Encourage physical activity for the purpose of seeing what your body can do, and trying to maintain a healthy body. After all, you need a healthy body to run, swim and play faster and for longer.

3 Important Tips to Raise a Resilient Child

1. Positive and Encouraging Affirmations

Positive affirmations are positive and encouraging statements about yourself that you can repeat as an activity. Repeating positive statements helps fight off negative thoughts and criticism especially in younger children.

Some simple positive affirmations include:

I am brave
I am strong
I am loved
I matter
I always do my best

Some more detailed positive affirmations include:

I am unique and special, and I have many wonderful qualities.
I am confident and comfortable in my own skin.
I am smart and capable of learning anything I want to.
I am full of curiosity and wonder, always exploring and learning new things.
I am a good friend, and I treat others with kindness and respect.

You can make the most of these positive affirmations through a couple of tips such as:

Sticking to a schedule
Keeping the affirmations as realistic and honest as possible
Encouraging your child to believe in the affirmations
Offering a safe environment to discuss their feelings, especially if they are struggling to believe an affirmation.

2. Teach Your Child Coping Strategies

Coping strategies are the way we deal with stressful situations. Your child facing challenges when they step out into the world is inevitable and a part of growing up. What can you do to help them be prepared?

You can teach and help them practice healthy coping skills. Many coping skills which help us process our negative emotions and focus on positive emotions help build resilience.

Some of these coping skills include:

Self-care through good diet, sleep, eating
Catching up on hobbies such as reading, exercise, art
Processing emotions such as labeling our emotions and breathing exercises

3. Encourage Problem Solving and Normalize Making Mistakes

As parents we have this primal instinct to help our kids as much as we can. This also includes solving their problems for them.

In children, if we simply observe and guide them when necessary, problem solving on their own helps build their own confidence and teach them how to learn from experience:

Lastly, by definition of being human, we are bound to make mistakes. This is especially the case for children who are learning things from scratch for the first time!

Punishing or harshly criticizing children for their mistakes (especially repeatedly) results in your child losing their sense of responsibility. They are more likely to run away from these actions because of the painful consequences of making mistakes, resulting in a less resilient child.

You can always allow them to make mistakes and provide constructive criticism to help them grow.

Conclusion

Help your child develop a healthy body image by modeling a positive self-view, emphasizing body functionality over appearance, and promoting body diversity.

Build and encourage resilience by teaching coping skills, problem-solving, and viewing mistakes as learning opportunities.