If you are a parent and you diet, HOW you diet can have a huge effect on your children?s health habits and body image.
Body image
Along with dieting, poor body image is almost an accepted part of modern culture. The ?thin ideal? has caused so many adults and teens to feel badly about their bodies, whether overweight or not. These days, the focus on the ?obesity epidemic? makes it seem almost acceptable to criticize people for their weight. Perpetual dieting and worrying about weight is the norm for so many of us.
I have written before on cultivating a positive body image?in your child.?But what if it?s the parent who struggles with poor body image and yo-yo dieting?
Research shows that the effect a parent?s dieting has on kids depends on the approach. Dieting can either promote health or increase the risk of health problems. For example, eating more fruits and vegetables is healthy. Skipping meals, however, is not healthy.
Of course, children and teenagers get the message that ?thin is in? from peers and the media, too. But according to research, you?ll be giving your kids an emotional advantage if you show them that what?s important is to have a healthy lifestyle. You need to say it AND live it.
Research on the effect of mothers? dieting on their kids
At age 5, ideas about health and dieting start to emerge, but dieting behaviours have not usually started. In a 2000 study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 5-year-old girls were twice as likely to know about dieting if their mothers were currently dieting, or had dieted recently.
Mothers greatly influence slightly older children when it comes to eating, weight management, and body satisfaction or dissatisfaction. If a mother skips meals, her daughter will be more like to also skip meals. This is especially hard on a young child?s growing body, and can affect her energy level, mood, and ability to learn, in turn negatively impacting school and athletic performance as well as friendships. It also puts a child at higher risk for eating disorders.
If a mother is unhappy with her body, her child is more likely to also be unhappy with her body. Some thoughts and behaviours around food can be very harmful. Poor body image can lead to depression and low self-esteem, as well as skipping meals, taking diet pills or laxatives, and self-induced vomiting.
Other findings have shown that social environments are important in the development of children?s positive or negative attitudes towards their bodies. In other words, if important people in the child?s life have unhealthy habits and feelings, the child is more likely to develop these, too.
Kids imitate parents
The message here is that young children pick up on their parents? behaviours and feelings. When a mother follows fad diets, or yo-yo diets, or has eating-disordered behaviours, her daughter is much more likely to follow suit. To prevent this, mothers should eat regular, balanced meals, be physically active, and discuss healthy living rather than weight.
If you are a parent and you are unhappy with your body, especially if you have difficulty keeping the negative feelings from showing, I advise seeking counselling from someone trained in the area of nutrition, health, and body image.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association?(NEDA), 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner, and 81% of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. This is a legacy that we are passing on to our children, and it is very unfortunate.
What a parent can do
So, note to parents:
- No more fat talk (at least not in front of the kids)
- Focus on healthy eating, not weight
- Be physically active and talk about how it gives you more energy and makes you feel good
- Allow treats for yourself and your kids sometimes, without talking about guilt and weight gain
- Remember this quote from NEDA:??being thinner is not the same as being healthier and happier?
References
Abramovitz AB & Birch LL. (2000) Five-year-old girls? ideas about dieting are predicted by their mothers? dieting. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 100(10); 1157-1163. Full-length online publication accessed Nov 7th 2012 from? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2530935/
Spiel EC, Paxton SJ, Yager Z. (2012) Weight Attitudes in 3- to 5-year old children: Age differences and cross-sectional predictors. Body Image 9(4) 524-527.
Van den Berg PA et al. (2010) Maternal and adolescent report of mothers? weight-related concerns and behaviors: longitudinal associations with adolescent body dissatisfaction and weight control practices. Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 35(10) 1093-1102. Full-length online publication accessed Nov 7th?2012 from? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980944/
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Image courtesy of vorakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Source: http://www.totstoteensnutrition.com/2012/11/10/moms-dieting-can-affect-kids-habits-and-body-image/
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