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Strollerderby
Note to Moms: Don’t Complain About Your Weight
Healthy body image?
Do you think you’re fat? If you’re female, chances are good that you do.
According to a recent Glamour magazine survey, 40 percent of women are unhappy with their body. But it sounds as if even more women have a negative body image.
While only 46 percent of the women surveyed were actually overweight, 71 percent of them said they felt fat, according to CBS News’ “The Early Show.”
What makes me sad about this survey is that I know that many of these women are mothers and it’s likely they are griping about their bodies in front of their daughters.
For a Babble.com story about how to raise daughters without eating disorders, I interviewed Dr. Ariel Trost, a Berkeley-based psychologist who specializes in eating disorders.
According to Dr. Trost, if parents — especially mothers — are unhappy with their shape and size, their daughters will be more likely to be dissatisfied with their own bodies.
Parents need to be aware of how casual comments about appearance can influence their kids. Consider the message you’re sending when you praise someone for losing weight or gush about your daughter’s cute little friend.
Most importantly, think twice before you complain about how fat you look in front of your children. Even if you do want to lose weight, putting yourself down isn’t going to make anyone feel good about themselves.
Other posts:
What to Do When You Hate Your Friend’s Kids?
photo: flickr/kharied
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4 Comments
bob commented on Nov 02 10 at 10:08 amI can’t find an upside to complaining aloud about one’s own appearance and I wish women would just not. It’s bad for everyone.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Nov 02 10 at 10:39 amI read a story to one of my nieces that was about giving kisses to various body parts. When we got to the part about “chubby yummy knees” she freaked and screamed “I’M NOT CHUBBY!” She was *two.* Where does a two year old get the idea that the term “chubby” is so horrifying?
Sarah commented on Nov 02 10 at 11:55 amAs far back as I can remember I can remember my mom being self deprecating about her body, both joking and not. She would look at pictures and complain about how skinny she was then and how fat she was now. I also remember being made aware of my own larger body size as early as 3 years old, with my uncles talking about my big belly and saying that I was too heavy to lift while lifting my cousin who was my age (and probably only 5 lbs less) with ease. I was made very aware that I was fat before I reached kindergarten and by kindergarten 2nd and 3rd grade boys teased me about it nearly every day. The sad part is, looking at pictures, I was really only slightly overweight. I find it sad that a lot of my earliest memories are related to body image.
Gretchen Powers commented on Nov 02 10 at 12:57 pmwhere, indeed?
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