Role Of Promoting Healthy Body Image And Self Esteem

Promoting Healthy Body Image and Self-Esteem

Many children struggle with creating a healthy body image and self-esteem. According to Jane Myers, John Willse and Jose Villalba, Journal of Counseling & Development, “recent research using cross-sectional data on more than 326,600 persons suggests that self-esteem changes over the life span and is particularly critical during adolescent development”

Parents and teachers wonder what they can do about this. Knowing that children need help, the PTA of Shelbyville’s schools can find out ways to help these children have positive self-esteem and body images.

There are many ways to establish healthy body image and self-esteem. Some possible methods for creating healthy body image and self-esteem are

Parents can encourage children by complimenting them. It can be as easy as “you look pretty today” or “that shirt looks good on you.” According to Encouraging Healthy Body Image in Teens and Adolescents, from Brown University, giving compliments to children about physical qualities will help them create health body images. It can also reassure them that they are loved and cared for, but only giving compliments can still leave children with low self-esteem. They need more than just hearing compliments. Creating a healthy body image for children won’t work when all they hear is compliments. Children can still be left without important information that they need. For example, some children can be complimented every day, but still have negative outlooks on their body because this alone is not enough. Giving only compliments can leave a child uncertain of their body changes and questioning what is happening to them. (Fritz 1) Children still need answers for what is happening to their bodies and giving compliments won’t answer

According to Ann Frisen, Anna-karin Jonsson and Camilla Persson, authors of Adolecents’ perception of bullying, bullying can happen anywhere, whether it’s a friend at school, or a sibling at home, bullying can be very harmful for children. Children can be bullied physically or mentally, whether it’s being called names or getting hurt by someone (Frisen, Jonsson, and Persson). During the time of puberty, some changes in children can be seen sooner than others. This can cause the feeling of being insecure, and some children can be bullied for their looks (Frisen, Jonsson, and Persson). If parents don’t talk to their children about what is happening, some children can think it’s weird that their friends are changing. This can cause name calling if a child doesn’t understand puberty yet. Informing children about puberty is very important so they will understand and accept the changes that are