All bodies are good bodies
The Body Book By Roz MacLean Promontory Press 24 pp; $9.95
The topic of body image and body positivity is discussed in a great furor nowadays, with opinions ranging from good, bad to downright rude. Fundamentally, the body- positive movement is working to change common ideas on what bodies are, and essentially to showcase the understanding that all bodies are good bodies, even the ones that don’t necessarily conform to ideal beauty standards.
Roz MacLean grew up a chubby kid. Inundated with messages from friends, family and media about how an ideal body should look and be presented, like many kids she started to secondguess the way she felt about her body. After developing an eating disorder in her teens, MacLean spent many years struggling with the misconceptions, stigma and shame attached to the disorder, and unpacking society’s deeply ingrained messages about which bodies are good bodies. It was from these life experiences that MacLean drew i nspiration for her latest children’s paperback, The Body Book.
MacLean, based out of Vancouver, B.C., and trained as an artist, illustrator and special education assistant, has dedicated her works to helping children learn and educate themselves in a socially conscious and positive way. Her first children’s book, Violet’s Cloudy Day, targeted children struggling with anxiety issues by helping them to become empowered thinkers. The Body Book takes much of the same approach, using bright illustrations and bold messaging to drive home ideas of self-love.
Aimed at children from pre- K to first grade, The Body Book is a culmination of several important concepts that MacLean feels are important to share with the world. All too often, she says, we don’t “think critically about how our culture values and treats people who fall outside of the constructed ideal of thinness.” With her work, MacLean has shown just how important it is for books like this to showcase the diversity of bodies.
With rhyming text and simple illustrations, the concepts are both fun and easy to understand, while still driving home a very clear, edu- cational and positive message. MacLean intends for The Body Book to “serve as a home base to expose kids to ideas and language around body diversity and acceptance before they encounter those stereotypes ( in everyday life).” Noticing that many students with whom she worked began to self-criticize very young, MacLean understood the sheer importance of targeting this book towards younger students whose attitudes around their bodies were just beginning to form.
Bolstering a child’s body image from an early age can make a huge difference in how a kid feels about themselves as they grow up. For many kids, each and every day becomes a struggle to conform to societal pressures and the imposed Western standard of beauty ideals. “The earlier you set a tone of what is true and untrue, the better. That ‘ truth’ will be questioned later in life when they encounter criticism.”
While her book will spark a dialogue between children and parents on the topic of body positivity, MacLean thinks that the conversation needs to continue outside of the book. “Self-consciousness stops kids, if they can have a default level of selfacceptance then I hope they can find enjoyment in their bodies doing what they love, instead of being preoccupied with how they look.”
Although trying to raise a child who is truly body positive may not be easy, it’s not entirely impossible. Having conversations with your child that address the subject openly, honestly and directly is one of the ways that MacLean recommends. “It gives kids a script and strong connection between their bodies and the different ways they can think about them.”
Parents, care providers and teachers can continue to reinforce body positive media in their everyday use. By reinforcing the types of positive body messages that children receive day- in and day-out, they can ensure that the dialogue on bodies is continued outside of MacLean’s book. Consider The Body Book as more of a jumpingoff point for providing body-positive media for children.
EXPOSE KIDS TO IDEAS AND LANGUAGE AROUND BODY DIVERSITY.