Help Your Daughter Create a Healthy Body Image

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Open any teen magazine, click on primetime TV or walk through a department store.  The images of impossibly thin models overwhelm today’s teenage girls.  Unbelievably, most models are thinner than 98% of American girls and women.
 
A study of nearly 50,000 teenage girls revealed that a majority listed appearance as their biggest concern (Exeter University, U.K., 1998).  Another study (Fat Talk, Harvard University Press, 2000) indicated that 90% of teenage girls frequently think about their body shape.  Add to that, pressure from friends, boys and parents, and it’s understandable that this study found that 86% of teenage girls are, or think they should be dieting.  And it’s no surprise that 5-10 million girls in the U.S. have eating disorders.
 
But ours is also a culture in which food consumes us, rather than the other way around.  Super-size, fat-free, two for one, low-cal . . . the messages teens receive are confusing to say the least.  In fact, one out of every five teens is overweight (Afraid to Eat, Healthy Weight Journal, 1997).  They need help!  Help understanding and resisting the pressures and messages.  And even more help developing strong body images.  As a parent and particularly as a mother, you can guide your daughter in interpreting and resisting some of these pressures.
 
Nonetheless, as you probably know, frequent battles about weight, eating and exercise often leave mothers and daughters at odds with each other, complicating the struggle even more by causing communication to break down between them.  Furthermore, although you may not even realize it, many mothers have their own, unresolved issues about weight and body image that inadvertently interfere with their ability to help their daughters create a healthy sense of their own bodies.
 
By becoming aware of the subtle messages that mothers might send their daughters, and by helping teenage girls interpret the world around them effectively, you can go a long way toward giving your daughter the tools she requires in order to grow into a strong, healthy and self-confident woman.

About the Author: Dr. Susan Bartel