How Diet Talk Affects Children

As a child, did you have a parent or adult you looked up to you noticed actively dieting, or who talked negatively about their body or weight?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you don’t even weigh yourself in front of your children, because of the negative impacts it can have on their relationship with food and body. 

Children are sponges, and young girls are especially prone to absorbing these beliefs: one study showed that five-year-old girls’ ideas about dieting are predicted by their mothers’ dieting.

I personally remember being very aware of my body size compared to other girls by 3rd grade—which is not really the best use of an 8-9 year old girl’s brain space—and it only got worse as the years went on. Even though my size was considered acceptable by society, I was always comparing myself to other girls at school, in dance class, at the mall, and later, an entire college campus.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I am not blaming adults in my life for anything other than planting the initial seed here. My peers, the media, stores with unrealistic sizing, a toxic romantic relationship, and my own tendency to ruminate on things at length took care of the rest.

But the only way to end this for future generations is to break the cycle. Let’s set a positive example for the children in our lives by being kind to ourselves, being body-positive (or at least body neutral), not criticizing yourself for what’s on your own plate, and especially not critiquing what’s on theirs.