Recently, have you noticed that your child has been looking in the mirror for more time. Sometimes he complains about the flesh on his body and pushes food away on the table: "You can't eat too much, I want to lose weight!"
This shows that your little bean bread is growing up quietly.
data shows that most children and teenagers care very much about their appearance. And children will start to develop their own perceptions of their bodies at a very young age.
As they age, they will become more self-aware, more likely to compare themselves with their peers, and more susceptible to the promotion of ideal body shape, faces and appearance on the outside world.
If not controlled, dissatisfaction with appearance and body may affect the child's mental health and emotional health, and the risk of eating disorders, depression and inferiority problems will rise sharply.
For teenagers, it is a normal experience to resolve some of their own insecurities. But if this prevents them from enjoying social or other activities, then parents need to intervene.
What do children care about the most about appearance?
University of Michigan Health Center C.S. Mott Children's Hospital investigated 1653 parents of who have to 18-18-year-old children.
The results show that weight, skin and hair is the appearance feature that children care about the most and is also the main source of lack of security.
Nearly One fifth Girl parents say that their children will feel embarrassed about their Breast .
Among those parents who think that their children care about their appearance,
Some parents also suggested that children avoid taking photos because of their lack of security in appearance, try to use clothes to cover up the "shorts" of their appearance that they care about, or restrict their diet.
Survey found that children’s negative thoughts about their own appearance will be further strengthened by other people’s feedback .
One-third of parents say that their children are often unfriendly treated by other children, strangers or other family members because of their appearance.
The most common reaction for parents is to talk about this with their children; in rare cases, parents will keep their children away from those who make hurtful remarks and avoid talking to those people.
Overall, parents surveyed believe that interactions with others in life have a greater impact on children's self-image perception than social media.
How to help children build positive self-image cognition?
Here are five suggestions and strategies for you.
If parents always criticize their bodies or make negative comments on their appearance, then the child is likely to follow suit.
In fact, every time the father or mother stands on the scale, sighs and shouts about her determination to lose weight, or often looks at herself in the mirror and mutters "not good-looking", the child will see it.
Parents should set an example and teach their children how to love and self-esteem.
. Embrace body diversity
If parents hear their children comment on someone’s body shape or appearance, whether they are people they know, people on TV programs, or strangers, they should tell their children: everyone’s appearance is different and has different characteristics, and they should respect the appearance characteristics of everyone.
. Avoid excessive praise for appearance
Adults will involuntarily praise their cute appearance when they see cute babies.
But this may also invisibly emphasize the importance of appearance in front of children, strengthening the information of "People with good-looking appearance are more valuable" , which may aggravate children's worries - worrying that they will not be beautiful one day and thus fall into inferiority complex.
Therefore, parents should pay more attention to their children's personal qualities and try not to always focus on their children's body, hair, face or clothes.
4. Promote family contact through healthy activities
Family can strengthen contact through fun exercise and healthy diet and enjoy a wonderful family happiness together.
This can promote children to develop healthy living habits and let them know that through nutrition and exercise, it is necessary to make their body feel more comfortable and comfortable, rather than look more "perfect".
Regular family dinners also help parents maintain close contact with their children, publicly communicate with each other about the sources of insecurity they face, and provide opportunities to solve problems together.
5. Teach children to look at social media critically
Today's children are prone to feeling anxious about body shape or appearance.
Models in magazines, actors in TV and movies usually have "perfect" figures, and celebrities, internet celebrities, and even peers on social media will use photo editing to beautify their photos they show to the outside world.
Parents should help their children enter the real world, remove the filters, see the original appearance, and let them understand how certain photos become "photo fraud" through P-photo operation.
Parents should improve their children's media literacy and understanding, so that they will understand that advertising, media and even their friends' portrayal and publicity of perfect figures and faces is not realistic.
Love beauty is human nature. What we need to do is provide children with step-by-step guidance, lead them to correctly recognize the changes in their bodies, learn to accept themselves, establish correct physical cognition, and then accompany them to grow up slowly.
Reference:
https://www.futurity.org/body-image-kids-teens-appearance-2801392