Let Your Child Build A Positive Body Image

By: Teeja Hivsbob
Submitted: 2008-05-26 12:43:54
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher |

Rating:

 

Your teenager may be developing a negative body image, what with all the pressures which expects him or her to look good (according to the misconceived standards that is). This can cause your teenager to try anything, however drastic, just to subscribe to otherwise unachievable goals.

As a parent, you have the upper hand when it comes to changing your teenager's conception's on beauty, since it is you whom your child trusts the most. Reverse the negative pressures by rebuilding your teen's positive body image, he or she will thank you for the effort in the end.

Despite the explicit efforts of your teen to clam up in front of you, he or she wants to communicate. The difficulty may lie in the generation gap or the sudden onset of adolescence, but if you want to regain your teen's confidence you have to ensure that the communication lines remain open despite the sudden shift in the relationship.

Your teenager may be embarrassed to discuss issues of a sensitive nature, or may be presently unwilling to talk for personal reasons. Make sure to keep yourself approachable if your child is hesitant to open up immediately and prepare to listen when he or she decides to finally speak up.

It also helps to talk about issues on food and weight on a positive light. Avoid counting your calorie intake in front of your teenager, especially if you are aware that he or she is weight conscious to begin with. Refrain from making the misstep of using the words 'thin' and 'pretty' or 'beautiful' in the same breath; this leaves a wrong impression on your child and does much more harm than any progress you've done so far. And since teens are known for their insatiable appetites, make sure you have plenty of food within reach whenever the hunger pangs kick in, but none of the junk and more of the veggies and fruits.

Your teenager may also be bombarded with a lot of misconceptions which are fed in part by the media. The skinny models and porn stars in print and on the internet, and slim teenage actresses on TV.

If your teenager is particularly enamored with soft porn stars that's one thing; but to build his or her entire self-image on how soft porn stars and actresses look can lead to a road which causes eating disorders and a broken self-esteem. You need to nip this tendency at the bud as soon as it presents itself by telling your child that most of what's on the mass media are mere illusions of what beauty should really be like.

Place more emphasis on what your teenager does rather than on how he or she looks. Compliment actions, and not how beautiful she fits in that dress, or how buff his body looks. More importantly, make sure that your teenager knows how much he or she is loved no matter what, even when they are at their worst. Parental loving care is the perfect antidote to the pressures of society which oftentimes prove to be too much of a burden for teens, and you alone can provide it for your child's own benefit.

Article source: Expert Articles