Four ways to improve your child’s body image

Experts warn there’s a body shame epidemic and tell

how some simple steps can help parents improve the way their kids feel about their appearance

THE number of people with poor body image is growing in the UK – and it’s an even bigger problem for children than it is for adults.

A survey for a new Government report, Changing the Perfect Picture: an inquiry into body image, found 61% of adults and 66% of children feel negative or very negative about their body image most of the time.

“After a decade of soaring social media use, increased exposure to online advertising and a persistent and pervasive diet culture, our concerns about the way we look are starting younger, lasting longer, and affecting more people than ever before,” says the report.

Lockdown has “undoubtedly worsened existing body image anxieties,” it confirms, and in a host of recommendations, it stresses that “encouraging positive body image during childhood and adolescence must be a priority”.

A major driver of negative body image, particularly for young people, says the report, is edited and filtered photos used in advertising and across social media to digitally enhance appearance in photos.

Indeed, new research from the Dove Self-Esteem Project found 85% of girls have used retouching apps by the age of 13, and girls who distort their photos are more likely to have low body-esteem (57%) compared to those who don’t distort their photos at all (24%).

Body image expert Professor Phillippa Diedrichs, a research psychologist at the Centre of Appearance Research at the University of West England, says “Filters and editing apps have dramatically changed the way we can be creative on social media, but when they distort the way we really look in an attempt to meet unrealistic standards, they can have a lasting and harmful impact on girls’ self-esteem.

“It’s essential we have tools in place to help support young people to develop the skills they need to use social media in a healthy way.”

So what can be done about this increasing body image problem? Molly Forbes, founder of The Body Happy Organisation and author of Body Happy Kids, says research shows more than 30% of five-yearold girls say they need to go on a

Molly Forbes of the Body Happy Organisation diet, and children as young as three feel their body is ‘wrong’.

“We’re in an epidemic of body shame and it’s affecting children at a younger and younger age,” says Molly, who points out that evidence shows children who feel bad about their body are not only less likely to make healthy lifestyle choices, but are also more likely to engage in behaviours that risk their health, like smoking, binge drinking or unhealthy eating. In addition, poor body image can affect how children behave socially, and how they form relationships, she says.

“The good news is that body image isn’t a fixed entity and changing the body image environment our kids are growing up in can make a huge difference to how they think and feel about their own bodies,” she says.

Here Molly suggests four ways parents

BODY

IMAGE EXPERT: Professor Phillippa Diedrichs can help improve children’s body image.

It’s a common misconception that in order to raise body happy kids, parents need to feel good about their own bodies, says Molly. “You don’t need to have totally healed your own poor body image to raise children who are at peace in their bodies,” she explains. “Just being mindful of the language you use when talking about your own body can have a huge impact.

“So, trying not to vocalise negative feelings about your body in front of your kids, and really focusing on what your body and the bodies of your children can do instead of how they look is a great start.”

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