How do you talk about your body with your child?
Do you just ignore it?
Your child won’t.
Has your child ever asked you why someone is “so big” or something along those lines?
Did you avoid the question? Stumble through it, perhaps?
More than anyone else, you shape your child’s feelings about not just other people’s bodies but their own bodies as well. That means you should be ready to have conversations with your children about accepting and celebrating their bodies and other people’s bodies.
Part of acceptance is celebrating all our bodies and their differences and embracing different bodies – free from insult. It might be hard for you, regardless of your size, to chat with your children but you can start working on it, which will give them a healthier and more realistic understanding of the world around them and develop their own self-confidence.
Children of all ages should be engaging regularly in these conversations and you, as an active adult in their life, can help make them productive and positive. A great way to begin these conversations is through books.
Here’s a set of recommendations for all ages to start the conversation about accepting, and celebrating, all bodies.
