It’s important for us to consider how images from the media and peer pressure have affected the body image of young people.
If you have a teenager at home and are worried, you aren’t alone. This is why we gathered some helpful tips on how to foster a healthy body image for teenagers.
Table of Contents
1. Make it a point to establish good eating habits.
You can teach and encourage your teen to have a positive relationship with food. Offer a wide range of food.
It’s a great thing there are a lot of health food stores and options for grocery and fruit delivery. Read up and educate them to avoid fad and crash diets.
Also, eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring. You can even ask a chef for healthy recipes you can make at home.
You can also go to restaurants in Calgary that serve nutritious food like vegan restaurants. Some cuisines like Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai are also known to be healthy.
It’s important to encourage conversations about food and diets. You can also consult a nutritionist or dietitian who can give advice on proper eating habits.
Aside from that, you can also go to a clinic to consult a pediatrician if your child is still within the normal and healthy weight range for their group.
Make it a point to let them know that you want them to be within the normal range not to look a certain way but to ensure that they’re healthy inside and out.
2. Lead by example.
Be conscious about what you say about your own body and others’ bodies because this can have a big impact on your children. Encourage your kids to exercise and eat healthy food not for their looks but for their health.
3. Be conscious of your language about the topic.
Use positive language and avoid talking about physical attributes. Instead of focusing on the physical, praise other admirable things about your child’s character
Avoid criticizing physical attributes in yourself and in other people. Don’t make hurtful comments that will make them overthink about their weight or body shape.
If they’re going through trauma caused by an unhealthy body image, you can get professional help from mental health counselors.
4. Check the media your child is consuming.
Media is so powerful because it shapes public opinion. Sadly, not all types of media promote a healthy body image.
In fact, they can be damaging to a child’s self esteem. So if you can, make sure they’re watching appropriate media that sends out a good message to teens.
In case they get exposed to media that’s not ideal, make sure that you start a healthy discussion at home about it.
5. Encourage them to have positive influences.
It’s important that your teenagers are surrounded by people who will support them and like them for who they are, not because of what they look like. It’s also best if they themselves have a good relationship with their bodies.
Growing up is hard, especially with so many platforms that can make us feel bad about ourselves. We hope we were able to help worried parents out there in building stronger self esteem and a healthy body image in teenagers.
Did we miss out on any tips? Let us know in the comments!
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