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Monkey See, Monkey Do
Modeling Positive Body Image to Your Children By Lyn Mettler
It's better to look good than to feel good.
It's not just a funny phrase from a Saturday Night Live skit. It's something that's been drilled into many of our heads, especially women, since the time we were children. But such an attitude about our outward appearance can spark many unhealthy problems like eating disorders, poor self-esteem or obsession about our bodies. Is that what you want to pass on to your kids? Or do you want them to learn, instead, that it's about how you feel, not how you look.
Studies show that 40 percent of girls younger than 10 have already been on a diet, and the number of obese children and adolescents in the U.S. has doubled since the early 1970s. Such statistics illustrate this is a real problem we need to address and fast. How do we help our kids develop a healthy image about their bodies?
Such insecurities made a lasting impression on Vilas, who is now writing a book entitled Bye, Bye Barbie: Release the Fantasies That Keep You in a Fairy Tale World. She grew up battling bulimia, dieting and obsessing about her body. "I learned or interpreted at an early age that a few extra pounds could mean the difference between love/admiration and indifference," she says.
After all, if you, as a parent, aren't comfortable in your own skin, how can you expect your children to be?
