Kids as young as four are unhappy with their weight according to new research which will be the focus of an upcoming Wollongong workshop.
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The Butterfly Foundation is hosting the workshop in light of the research which revealed that more than a quarter of four-year-old boys – and two in five girls – wanted to be a different size.
Professor Susan Paxton, of La Trobe University, said the study found that parental attitudes towards body size influenced children’s views.
‘’If fathers voice negative attitudes towards overweight people their sons are more likely to view thinness as particularly positive,’’ she said, ‘’whereas girls are more likely to select thinness as the ideal when their mothers are dieting.
‘’Parents are the most important socialising influence on their children, however it’s important to note that children are also exposed at a very young age to other peer and media influences.’’
The research also found that children routinely associated figures of overweight people with negative traits such as ‘meanness’. Conversely, they matched positive attributes like ‘kindness’ to figures of slender people.
‘’Such stereotypes are already in place at age four, which is problematic for two reasons,’’ Professor Paxton said. ‘’Firstly it results in discrimination of larger children and teasing and exclusion. It can also be internalised and used at a later age as a criterion to judge self against.’’
National support group, The Butterfly Foundation is promoting positive body image and self esteem through its Body Esteem Educator Training workshops.
‘’The program is focused on teachers, so that they can help children and parents grappling with issues around body image and resilience,’’ CEO Christine Morgan said.
‘’A critical part of addressing this issue is helping children and parents … learn that a person’s size and shape are not a simple indicator of their value and capability.”
Register for the Towradgi workshop on September 22 at www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au. For help with body image issues contact 1800 334 673.
Editorial: Four-year-olds with weight on their minds
In 2012 a Gerringong woman spoke out about the dire shortage of hospital beds for people with eating disorders.
She demanded health authorities stop depriving Illawarra sufferers of vital services.
The 19-year-old bravely shared details of her own battle with anorexia nervosa to draw attention to the shortage of specialist beds, long waiting lists and general lack of services for unwell NSW men and women.
Diagnosed in 2009 and then with bulimia nervosa in 2010, she overdosed while waiting for an appointment at a Sydney eating disorder clinic.
She was one of dozens of young Illawarra residents who contacted the Mercury.
Shellharbour MP Anna Watson was touched by the stories and called on the NSW government to consider a centre for eating disorders in the Illawarra.
"I would appreciate your consideration of ... whether it is possible to establish appropriate treatment services for anorexia and other eating disorders in the Illawarra, including the establishment of a centre for eating disorders within the region," Ms Watson said.
She agreed waiting times for the two specialised adult treatment beds were "quite extensive".
Four years on and there is no specialisted treatment centre in the Illawarra. But the Butterfly Foundation is tirelessly working to help families in need.
The organisation’s announcement that a positive body image workshop will run in Wollongong this month is a step in the right direction.
Butterfly is constantly working to shine the spotlight on the awful truth – that kids as young as four are unhappy with their bodies.
This latest La Trobe University research – showing two in four girls desired to be a different size, while just over a quarter of boys feel the same way – is a startling reality of modern society.
Scales should not be something a young child would consider stepping onto, let alone processing what the numbers mean.
Butterfly CEO Christine Morgan says this year’s Love Your Body Week fundraising effort will help us to reach more communities with evidence-based prevention programs on positive body image and self-esteem.
The program will help teachers reach children and parents who are grappling with issues around body image and resilience. It’s time to take body image issues seriously, for the sake of our children. The Butterfly Foundation has been telling us this for years.
