Tips For Training Kids In A Body-Positive Environment

Every parent wants to see their children strong, beautiful, and amazing but nowadays, new generation kids are not focused on flourishing their bodies and sadly living a toxic life. The healthy growth of your children’s bodies depends upon the environment of your home. 

Media and society have destroyed the self-care and love of children, says Tori Cordiano, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and the director of research at the Laurel School Center for Research on Girls in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Some reports show that more than 70% of girls and 30% of boys at the ages of 6 to 8 don’t like their bodies. 

According to the survey conducted by common sense media conclude that parents play a great role in how children should be thinking about their bodies and health. The health of children not only depends upon healthy food and exercise, but you also need to train your children positive habits from a younger age. Let’s talk about tips for setting a healthy mindset for your children about their bodies. 

Maintain Yourself Before Training Kids

What you eat, where you go, how you talk, how you take care of body, your children notices you and adapt your ways more than you think. No matter from which age group your children belongs to, they see and everything says, Cordiano. For this reason, you need to have a look at your activities before you train your kids. Involve yourself in fun physical activities and eat healthy meals. The environment of the home depends upon how parents are living their lives, especially their mother. 

According to one other report, the age groups of teens are more focused on their diet and body. The parents of this age group also force their children to lose weight. For that reason, they start adapting unhealthy ways to control their weight. 

Motivate Your Children

Rather than degrading your children and passing bad comments to them, you must create a motiving environment at home. Make a positive mindset of your children about their bodies. Advise them to participate in sports and school extra-curricular activities. In short, develop “self-worth” in them. Be a good role model for your children. Build such an environment in the home where they can practice healthy physical or nonphysical activities. Help them understand that not everyone has an ideal body size. 

Appreciate the strengths and looks of your children. Also never judge anyone else’s body appearance in front of your children. Let them know that only body shape appearance is not important but focusing on the healthy habits that include good sleep, required amount of water, and nutritious meal. 

Develop Good Eating Habits In Your Children

Just announcing that this food is not good or unhealthy is wrong. Instead of these terms, you can use the term sometimes food or everyday food. Tell them there are many more reasons to eat. Gift them any food item as a reward. Let them know that we don’t only eat before of hunger. You can also use food for comforting them for example taking your children out for a dinner for refreshment or offer chocolates to your children whenever they are feeling low. Eat together every time and avoid using any smart device at that time. You can use that time to build a connection with them. If you are concerned about the weight of your children, you must not put pressure on them. From your continuous pressure, they will start jumping into unhealthy ways of losing weight like weight cycling, or chronic dieting. These cases mostly lead to eating disorders. Instead of putting pressure, adapt some ways that stop them from eating extra food, for example, make limited food, if you made or order extra food, they will definitely eat extra.  

If your children are skinny and picky about choosing foods then start taking them for the grocery and engage them in the preparations of food. Make a rule of finishing the whole plate before leaving the dining table. Don’t force them to eat food they don’t like. Make the food of their choice. 

Evolve Your Children In Physical Activities

Being a parent, your main goal is to make your family an active one. No matter what’s the age of your children, physical activities are important. If you start engaging them in such activities at a younger age then you can succeed in your goal very soon. For example, buy them bicycles for going to school or if their school is near, then encourage them to go on foot. Swimming is also another good physical exercise. Tell them that you are arranging these activities as a fun activity only not because you want them to lose weight. 

Explore their favorite sport. If your children are not interested in going for walks or gym, then you can tell them to go to play football or badminton. 

Build Their Confidence Level

There is a number of other ways to make your children realize that they are on the not right way. If you frankly point that you did not look good, or you look fat is wrong. Appreciate their body for example talk like; “are you going to the gym nowadays? Your arms look stronger than before” By this, they will understand that by going to the gym they will look good. Also, don’t motivate by comparing them with others. Instead of saying, “look at her, how good she looks, you should also start going to dancing classes” say to them that “taking dance classes is a good idea” 

Final words

The mental and physical health of your children depends a lot on how you react. If you really want your children to be physically fit, you have to adopt good habits as well. If you only put pressure on them, they can never live a healthy life. 

Create a mindset of your children that doesn’t care about what others say about you. Let them know that if you think you look fine and there’s no point in stressing about your body appearance.