“Children As Young As 3 Can Describe What Happens At Slimming Groups”
We need to take action now to address the erosion of young children’s body confidence, urges Dr Jacqueline Harding…
The Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) recently published a small-scale piece of research which indicated that some children as young as three are experiencing anxieties about body image.
Worryingly, nearly a quarter of childcare professionals have witnessed children aged between 3 and 5 show signs that they are unhappy with their appearance or bodies. Furthermore, almost half of childcarers have witnessed body image anxieties in 6 to 10-year-olds – meaning this figure almost doubles as children get older.
Early experiences matter
Body image is connected to self-esteem – and as childcare professionals will know, these little people in our lives are easily influenced. There is often an assumption that body image issues start later in childhood, and there is indeed a wealth of research that exists around how older children can suffer with low self-esteem as a result of such anxieties. Sadly, however, there is a lack of similar research focusing on this area conducted in the early years. The fact that so many early years practitioners are seeing body image issues particularly concerns me, as by the age of 3 or 4, some children will have already begun to make up their minds about how bodies should look. There is also evidence to suggest that some four-year-olds are becoming aware of strategies as to how to lose weight. There is now mounting concern that the forming of these views so early on in life may later develop into eating disturbances or depression. We know that early experiences matter the most. We need to be very careful about how, even inadvertently, we may be signalling to children that they should think negatively about their bodies and how they look.
Like little sponges
Again, we need more research in this area, but the contributing factors are likely to include images on TV and in storybooks, and general way in which adults often about chat about their bodies, dieting, cosmetic surgery and so forth There is little doubt that low levels of self-esteem appear to contribute significantly to negative perceptions of body image. Increasingly, children are taking a greater interest in their appearance and what they want to wear. This type of curiosity can help a child in developing their independence – but sadly, it sometimes doesn’t stop at them wanting to choose their wardrobe.
The uttering of phrases such as ‘she/he is fat’ are becoming increasingly commonplace in childcare settings – nearly one in four practitioners have heard such statements – while nearly one in three childcarers have heard a child label themselves fat.
I recently spoke to a nursery manager, who told me that that children as young as three have been able to describe in detail what happens at slimming groups. They see the elation when adults are able to lose weight and the upset when they don’t.
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A lot of parents don’t realise the impact that exposing young children to these types of situations can have, they are like little sponges – highly susceptible to the influences around them and liable to copy behaviours. We need to be aware that children are always watching and listening. No one wants a future generation obsessing about getting on the scales, or rejecting food because ‘it will make them fat’.
The power to influence and change
More needs to be done to support practitioners in addressing these issues. We have a growing childhood obesity crisis in the UK, and settings need greater training on body confidence. Practitioners are perfectly placed to promote positive body images and healthy lifestyles, as well as provide advice and guidance to parents if they are starting to see signs of body anxieties in their children. Collectively, we have the power to influence and change behaviours. Thankfully, there are some simple ways to support children to be body confident. Children look up to us and want to be like us, so we need to take care to talk about our own bodies in a positive way. We need to build a child’s self-confidence and self-image by focusing on who they are as a person, not what they look like. One example of this might be to praise them for acts of kindness to others, not just for looking pretty or handsome.
Gradually, in an age-appropriate way, we can begin to point out how images of bodies and beauty in the media are altered, so that they know they are not realistic depictions. If we work together, we can recognise the signs of body anxieties in children and address the issues in the early years – building their confidence and ensuring they have the best possible start in life.
Dr Jacqueline Harding is an early years author, a senior lecturer at Middlesex University and director of the film production and media research company Tomorrow’s Child; for more information, visit www.tomorrowschild.co.uk or follow @jaxharding
