#29 Three Steps to Help Children Develop a Positive Body Image

Welcome to the Parenting Well podcast with Parent Engagement Network!  I am Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host. Today’s well source is Dr. Missy Gryder and we are going to talk about Three Steps to Help Children Develop a Positive Body Image. 

Dr. Gryder serves as the Founder of Meeting Kids’ Needs, an online course for parents of kindergarten through fifth grade children that teaches parents how to help their children handle their feelings, especially the tough ones. Meeting Kids’ Needs gives parents the latest in research-based social and emotional learning so they can purposefully help build their children’s emotional intelligence.  Her professional interests include social and emotional learning in schools and in homes, positive classroom and school climates, brain-based best classroom practices, and holistic health and wellness. Dr. Gryder is also the developer of The Body Safety Box, an evidence-based child abuse prevention educational kit offering children along with their parents, schools, and community groups a series of active, engaging, and age-appropriate learning opportunities to help prevent abuse and its often lifelong consequences. The Body Safety Box has served children in 31 states, Canada, Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea to date.

In this episode, we discuss: 

• Social and emotional learning (SEL) perspectives around body image.
• Themes in the research
• Differences between males and females.
• Three specific strategies for helping your child create a positive body image, including (1) Being aware and intentional about your own body image story and eliminating fat talk, (2) Developing critical thinking about the media's role in body image, and (3) Developing a positive body image that is grounded in secure attachment.
• The importance of attachment and belonging.
• Treasuring your child for who they are as a unique human being. 

Resources

• Website: Meeting Kids Needs
• Meeting Kids Needs: Course Enrollment
• Instagram for Meeting Kids Needs: @meetingkidsneeds
• Instagram for the Body Safety Box: @bodysafetybox
• Book: Mothers, Daughters & Body Image:  Learning to Love Ourselves as We Are, by Hillary McBride, Ph.D.
•  
  TEDxSanAntonio: Dr. Carolyn Becker, Combating Body Dissatisfaction, The Destructive Impact