If your child is approaching their teenage years or is starting to feel self-conscious, there are a lot of things that won’t just feel like challenges for them. They may be overwhelmed with changes. If your child is starting to show concerns with their body image, it’s important to consider some of the following tips.
Win the Small Battles
If your child is feeling self-conscious over something invisible to everyone else apart from them, you have two options. You can either attempt to fix the issue. Or, you can help them to navigate their train of thought away from it.
For example, we can all feel self-conscious about our teeth. While something like invisible braces can help, allowing your child to fix these minor issues may not get to the root of the feelings of inadequacy. It’s important to talk through what is bothering them and why first. Equally important to discuss that braces may not resolve all issues and that the process can be uncomfortable.
Model Self-Comfort
If your child is experiencing anxieties about their body, you need to remember that you are the role model. If your child has seen you feeling inadequate about your body, this could be a contributing factor. Rather than feeling regret, it’s time to draw a line in the sand and set those examples. It could be something that you both work towards together.
Learning how to be comfortable in our own bodies is not something that’ll happen overnight. However, learning self-acceptance and identifying triggers can allow both of you to process these discomforts together.
The Benefits of a Different Opinion
If your daughter is exhibiting body image issues, being the mother, you might be too close to them. This could be where you bring in another opinion, preferably someone of the opposite sex. It is so important for girls to hear positive feedback from the father figure, not just on their looks, but the other attributes they display.
It can be a very difficult thing for a father to do because they should be encouraging, but also need to put themselves in their daughter’s shoes and not give an opinion based on potentially antiquated alpha male perspectives. It all depends on who the father is. If they are someone who is not in touch with their emotions orl exhibits that Type A personality, they may a bit of coaching first.
Develop Resilience
Getting to the root core of body image issues will not happen overnight. It could be to do with taunting or teasing in school, or it could be that your child is unfairly comparing themselves to someone else. It can be something that hits home for us because we may have gone through the same thing. For all of the parenting anxieties we can face, it is vital that we now use this opportunity to develop resilience.
Life is going to throw curveballs. Rather than thinking that challenges are something to be feared, instead, we should learn how to incorporate resilience. This way we can deal with problems with a far more positive attitude.
