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Monkey See, Monkey Do
Modeling Positive Body Image to Your Children By Lyn Mettler
"We openly discuss what I am doing to change my body, and I share with my daughter openly that I feel it is necessary to live as a healthy, fit woman," says O'Malley, also the author of Complete Earthly Woman. "Share openly with your children what you consider to be a healthy body, and make those views open to accepting all shapes and sizes."
Start Early"Childhood is the most significant time where personality and world view are developed," says Padham. "Body image has a lot to do with what a person sees to be of value, and childhood is the time when values are taught and modeled."
Starting early will go a long way toward helping your children develop a positive image of their bodies later in life. "As the child matures especially through adolescence, when a natural increase in body focus is appropriate the foundation for her thinking, her socializing and her sense of worth comes from her childhood experiences and modeling," says Padham.
Get started on the road to health now. Not only will your children benefit from a healthier lifestyle and opinion about themselves, you will, too.
"I look in the mirror now, and I love what I see," says Rathman. "I know I have a gift of being here. It's not about how I look, but about how I feel."
