Tips to Help Children in a World that is Critical of Body Size
- Create an environment where children learn to feel good about themselves.
- Help children recognize what they are good at and make opportunities for them to develop these skills and talents.
- Introduce children to different hobbies, sports, neighborhood and community activities, and the arts.
- Encourage children to pursue what they enjoy and what makes them feel good about themselves.
- Help children learn how to deal with teasing and bullying.
- Teach children strategies to avoid reacting to unkind words and actions.
- Role play with children and practice how they can use the strategies.
- Talk about calmly walking away from peer provocations.
- Help children develop positive "I messages": "I'm going to ignore these words because I know they are not true. I'm a good kid, I'm good at swimming, social studies, and writing letters to my cousins, and I have a best friend, Alicia, who likes me just the way I am."
- Set and maintain limits on the amount of time that children spend watching television, movies, videos and playing computer games.
- Limit screen time, outside of homework, to 2 hours or less per day.
- Work together to select television shows and movies that everyone likes and that portray what is important to you.
- Make watching television and movies a special activity, not a routine activity.
- Keep the television turned off during meals and when no one is watching it. Maintain television-free bedrooms.
- Keep track of the visual media that children see.
- Limit the number of fashion, glamour, and muscle building magazines that come into your home.
- When children see images of female and male bodies that are unusually thin or overly muscular, talk about how media images are “created” with special techniques.
- Explain that different kinds of bodies have different strengths.
- Help children recognize that taking care of their bodies allows them to do what they like to do.
- Give children the experiences needed to like healthy foods and beverages.
- Plant a garden and teach children about where fruits and vegetables really come from.
- Teach children the basics of food preparation.
- Involve children with menu planning.
- Avoid soda and sugary beverages.
- Munch on fruits and vegetables between meals instead of fatty, sugary, and salty snacks.
- Show children what a healthy lifestyle looks like.
- Purchase mostly healthful foods and beverages.
- Eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet.
- Plan regular meals and snacks.
- Enjoy physical activity and active play every day.
- Avoid dieting and withholding food for punishment.
- Eat when hungry and stop eating when full.
- Make mealtimes pleasant and relaxed.
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