Calling All Parents!
If you’re a parent (or caregiver), chances are that you want to do whatever you can to provide your child with the skills, experiences, and abilities that will allow him or her to be a successful adult in the future. We want the very best for our kids, so how do we set them up to be happy, healthy individuals?
Our relationships with food and our bodies are important areas to consider in this endeavor, especially when we consider the following statistics:
-The rate of eating disorders in kids under age 12 has increased by 119% in the last decade (3).
-Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any mental illness, behind opioid addiction (1).
-40-60% of girls ages 6-12 are concerned with their weight or about becoming fat (4).
-Girls ages 14-15 who diet are 5-18% more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who do not diet (2).
These statistics are sobering reminders of the prevalence of eating disorders and the need for parents to model healthy behaviors around food and body. So how do we proceed?
-First, I encourage you to check in with yourself and your own belief systems. What comes to mind when you think about your body? How do you talk about your body? How do you talk about food? We have all been inundated with diet culture for decades. We can’t avoid it. It has been normalized even. Think about how common it is for people to openly bash their own bodies. In our culture, it is a normalized occurrence to be at odds with our relationships with food and with the shape, size, and appearance of our bodies. This is an occurrence called normative discontent, and it is fueling body shame.
If you, too, participate in similar self-objectification, in which you view your body more as something to be viewed or appraised rather than utilized for your benefit, please practice compassion with yourself. It is very possible to challenge these pervasive thought patterns and live more freely. You may consider therapy to help you explore your personal views, or you might consider joining a support group or reading some books. I will link some books on my instagram page (see “Reading Recs” in archived stories) that you might find helpful.
-Second, practice food and body neutrality in the home. Talking about food neutrally sounds like taking the moral value out of our comments of food. Try to avoid talking about “cheat meals”, being “good/bad” with our diets, or having to “earn” or “work off” the food you eat. Body neutrality is practicing treating our bodies with respect no matter how we feel about our bodies. It’s reminding ourselves that our bodies are good, not matter the number on the scale. Again, you can process this deeper in therapy or curled up with a good book.
Modeling healthy relationships with food and body comes from having the courage to take a deeper look at how we see ourselves, speak about ourselves, and treat ourselves. It is hard work to challenge the relationships, but it is possible.
1. Chesney, E., Goodwin, G. M., & Fazel, S. (2014). Risks of all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders: a meta-review. World Psychiatry, 13(2), 153-160.
2. Golden, N. H., Schneider, M., & Wood, C. (2016). Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders in Adolescents. Pediatrics, 138(3). doi:10.1542/peds.2016-1649
3. Radhakrishnan, L. et al. (2022). Pediatric Emergency Department Visits Associated with Mental Health Conditions Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, January 2019-January 2022. MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2022; 71: 319-324.
4. Smink, F. E., van Hoeken, D., & Hoek, H. W. (2012). Epidemiology of eating disorders: Incidence, prevalence and mortality rates. Current Psychiatry Reports, 14(4), 406-414.
5. Smolak, L. (2011). Body image development in childhood. In T. Cash & L. Smolak (Eds.), Body Image: A Handbook of Science, Practice, and Prevention (2nd ed.).New York: Guilford.