Body Image and Eating

Body image is the way your child feels about his or her body. In a culture that links our value to what we look like and normalizes images that don’t represent most people, it’s not surprising that many adults express dissatisfaction with their bodies. Research indicates that even preschoolers have increasingly negative body images and eating disorders are a serious risk factor for our children as they get older. Luckily, we as parents can have a major influence on helping our children develop a healthy body, a healthy emotional life, a healthy attitude toward food and exercise, AND a healthy body image.

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Children, Body Image, and Eating

Body image is the way your child feels about his or her body. These feelings include your child’s experience and opinions about any physical challenges, their skin color, their size and shape, their gender, and their sexuality. Your child’s body image has a huge impact on their emotional well-being.

15 Ways to Keep Your Child from Developing an Eating Disorder

In this culture, unfortunately, many of us eat diets that aren't very healthy, and we don't get enough exercise. That's true for our kids, too. In fact, experts suggest that this is the first generation that's less healthy than their parents.

Preteen Girls: Weight and Healthy Body Image

My 12 year old daughter's weight for height puts her in the 90th percentile. It seems that she wants to eat all the time. When we are out she wants to stop and get fast food even though we ate at home recently. She is active in sports at school like basketball and softball. I myself have always struggled with weight and I don't want to say the wrong things to her that might trigger an eating disorder or harm her self esteem.

Put pudgy 10 year old on diet?

Dr. Laura,
My ten year old is getting pudgy. Should I put her on a diet?
Thanks!
Worried Mom

How to help children become healthy eaters -- especially vegetables?

Dr. Laura,
Can you recommend an approach for kids to ensure they eat their 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day? When do you offer them? What if they spit them out, do we insist they eat? How do we respect their wishes and yet ensure they don't become kids who pick out veggies from their foods and become picky eaters? We have a two year old and a four year old. Thanks!

Toddler has become Picky Eater: Getting him to eat healthy food?

Dr. Laura, I fear that I have ruined my child's appetite forever.

I was a devout follower in the beginning of following the feeding rules. Start out with yellow vegetables as they are the most sour, and only do one a week so you can establish what if any allergies they have.

Patrick was a terrific eater. He loved vegetables, especially yams. He even loved squash. The only food he rejected was pineapples and bananas which his father and I don't like either so we just figured he was a mini version of us. He especially loved Salmon, and potatoes (not necessarily together, but those were two of his favorite dishes)

Then last week something happened. All of a sudden he has no interest in eating anything other than cookies and M&M's (or Nummy's as he calls them). He won't eat a yam. He won't touch his yogurt. He wants milk all day long instead of water. He rejects all meat, fish, rice and potatoes, and God forbid we try to give him any sort of fruit or vegetable, including mandarin oranges which he used to eat all the time.

I have no idea what happened to my good eater. I was so proud of myself for developing such a healthy little boy, and we were on track for a healthy lifestyle, with the occasional treat, and now it's all about fries, cookies, and nummy's.

Erin

Feeding Your Toddler

Want to help your toddler develop healthy eating habits? Then offer him only healthy food. There's no reason your toddler needs sweets or junk food at all. But even more important than what your toddler eats is his relationship with food. You want him to be in charge of how much he eats, and of getting it into his own mouth.

Help Your Toddler Develop Healthy Food Habits

Dr. Laura,
Was wondering if you could help....My SIL's 2 year old is a carb/milk/fruit addict...This is all he will eat....Most times, he ends up with just having a milk bottle or fruit because he doesn't want the other food that he has been given. He is 25 pounds...a bit low in weight for his age (34? inches tall) ...But doc says he is healthy (he was checked for anemia just in case...doesn't have it)

Any suggestions on how to help him to eat healthier? SIL doesn't want to make food into a bad thing...you know?

as an aside: SIL is a carb addict too....lots of junk food...from candy to fast foods daily. Don't know if this plays a part in his diet...Something she won't discuss...Not that I have personally tried...But I have heard her mother and others have.
She did ask me to post for some help though!! So, this is good, right?

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Parent Reviews

Karina

Liz McIntosh

Makchoon

Chantal Harrison

Andrei

Lisa Fernandez

Jennifer B

Dear Dr. Laura Markham! I am a mother of 2 boys - 16 and 7 years old. I am extremely grateful for all the emotional and relational education that you provide us and also for your incredible loving energy to support our evolution as parents, as human beings. I took your course 3 years ago. Although the challenges of the parent-child relationship change almost every year, your parenting principles are equally valuable and effective. It's hard to reprogram the emotional-behavioral pattern learned in my own childhood... so I find it very helpful to go back to your teachings to regain trust and patience as a parent every time new challenges trigger my anxiety. To have more clarity, to reset my energy. Thank you!!

Janina-Madalina Dobrescu

Dana Questad