How to raise body confident children

As a parent, do you worry about your children growing up with a healthy body image?

One of the questions I’m often asked by parents is what they can do to make sure their children are body confident.

In this post, I’m sharing four things you can do to instill healthy body image in your children.

Watch or read below:

Although my work is primarily focused on women, particularly those in mid-life, I’m sometimes asked by parents how they can raise body confident children.

While I’m not a parenting expert or a child coach, I believe that the principles for better body confidence are universal.

As a parent, I truly believe that raising body confident children starts with YOU and the way you relate to your body.

If you’re a parent concerned about raising your children to be body confident, I’ve got a four strategies for you to try:

Role model healthy body behaviours

To raise body confident children, you need to role model healthy body behaviours.

Sadly, many issues with body image are handed down from generation to generation.  If your own parents had hang ups about their bodies, it’s likely that you will too.

If your children see or hear you behaving in a way that demonstrates that you don’t like or appreciate your body, they will replicate the same behaviours.

One of the best things you can do for your children is to work on your own body image.  Become aware of not only how you speak about your body in front of your children, but also the non-verbal cues you’re giving off.

For example, do you cover up your body because you are self-conscious?  Do you restrict your food in front of them?

Working on your own relationship with your body image will help create body confident children.

Monitor your child’s social media consumption

We live in the age of social media, and children are no exception.

Be mindful of what they are looking at on social media.  Studies continue to show that social media is associated with poor body image and eating disorders.

If possible, try to keep your children’s consumption of social media to a minimum.

While it’s not always possible to monitor what they’re looking at, you can encourage them to follow accounts that are body positive.

Make sure that your children appreciate that what they see on social media isn’t always ‘reality’.  This will help remove some of the pressure they might feel to look a certain way.

Encourage the appreciation of inner qualities

Encourage your child to appreciate inner qualities over their appearance.  Praise your child for their personality, skills and talents.

For example, praising traits such as kindness or perseverance, or an aptitude for a skill or hobby.

Help your children to value their friends for more than their looks by asking them what they enjoy about hanging out with their mates.  This will help children to appreciate that we are all more than objects to be looked at.

Tackle negative body talk head on

If you notice your child saying negative things about their appearance, ask them if they would say those things to their friends?

Remind them that it’s not okay for them to talk to themselves in this way.

Reaffirm that they have value regardless of how they look, and that we all look different, and that’s okay!

I’d love to hear what you do to help raise body confident children. Please leave a comment below.