Sadly, more and more teenage children are becoming self-conscious about their changing bodies and more specifically, concern with gaining weight.
The words and phrases “fat”, “body hate”, “thinness”, “perfect figure”, “body shame”, “carbs”, “calories”, “clean eating”, “superfoods”, and “detox” (to name a few!) are thrown about and may sound all too familiar for a teenager and/or their family.
The media has a huge part to play in responsibility for this apparent obsession with weight and size, but as a parent you can do much to combat this and give your child the skills they need to have a healthy body image and approach to food.
So as a parent, how can you encourage a healthy approach to food in young people?
It starts with you.
As the parent of a teenager, it is essential that you help them embrace their forever-changing body.Learn to appreciate that health comes in all different shapes and sizes. Work with a health professional who specialises in improving body image and self esteem if you may see this as an issue for yourself.
Eliminate negative body self-talk.
We all do it at times: “I wish my thighs were thinner”, “I hate my jiggly arms”, “I wish I didn’t have cellulite”, “my skin is too fair”. Sadly, this unhelpful and destructive self-talk about our body is far too common. From a young age, children hear this and learn that this is ‘normal’.
If this relates to you, start by being aware of this negative self-talk and pull yourself up on it as it is very unhelpful and possibly damaging to your child’s view of their own body. Replacing these negative thoughts or words with a phrase you do love about your body is a good place to start.
Embrace family meals.
The best time to encourage a positive relationship between your teenager and their food is at the dinner table. Discuss less about the amount of carbs in the meal or how many calories it has, and more about where the food came from, how it tastes and how it feels in their stomach as they are eating it. Use more words and phrases such as nourishing, eating for wellbeing, satisfying and nurturing when referring to food.
Get rid of the scales.
Chances are, if you as a parent are weighing yourself everyday, riding the highs and lows of the numbers on the scales, your teenage child will likely do the same.
The number on the scale does NOT determine one’s health. Health can include a person’s mental state, social connections, physical health and fitness, emotional health, relationship with food and sleeping patterns, to name a few.
Be kind. Be grateful.
Focus your energy into discussing with your children how to nurture and look after their body they were blessed with. Recognise the wonderful things it can do. It’s quite incredible when you do sit back and appreciate this. For example; have you stopped to think that each second the body is working it’s damn hardest to utilise the fuel it’s been given to provide energy to every muscle in your body? What about how your heart continues to beat to keep blood flowing through your body? Or how the woman’s body has the ability to nourish a baby throughout a pregnancy and beyond birth.
Learn to be kind to your body and work with it, not against it. Leading by example will shine above everything else to help improve the relationship your teenager has with food.
Need some help creating a healthy approach to food for your family? This is something I can help you with, so please don’t hesitate to contact me.