The body-image agony of primary school children

CHILDREN as young as eight are battling eating disorders, and six-year-old girls are complaining they look too fat. And three-quarters of seven-to-11-year-olds would like to change something about their appearance.

Now ‘body image’ has become such a big issue, a new book is calling for it to be tackled as early as primary school.

Nicky Hutchinson, behaviour expert and co-author of Body Image in the Primary School, says that both teachers and parents have a vital part to play in helping children develop healthy attitudes towards how they look.

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Mums should avoid asking questions like: “Does my bum look big in this?” to focus on the positives of their own shape as well as those of their off spring.

But there is, she says, also a need to introduce the subject in the classroom.

“Work in this area has traditionally focused on adolescents, yet anxieties about appearance often develop at a much earlier age,” says Nicky, who has researched and written the book with her colleague, Chris Calland.

“We had often worked in schools with children who have a poor body image, and noted its effect on their health, self-esteem and educational progress. We were particularly concerned that this was becoming an issue for children at an earlier age than ever before.”

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Chris and Nicky are qualified teachers and independent educational consultants. Since 1997, they have also worked for the Behaviour Improvement team in Bristol, specialising in children’s social, emotional and behavioural development. They began looking seriously at ways of approaching the body image problem three years ago.

“Children face exposure to the media on a far greater scale than ever before,” says Nicky. “They watch up to 40,000 adverts every year.

“Although there are initiatives to address body image with adolescents, we were aware that there was very little available to support younger children. Primary schools have a critical role in helping them develop a healthy body image.”

The book includes a range of activities and projects for teachers to build children’s confidence in discussing body image in the classroom.

Body Image in The Primary School Routledge (£18.99).

SURVEY SHOCK FINDINGS

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an Ofsted survey of 150,000 children in 2008 found that by the age of 10, a third of girls and 22 per cent of boys cited their bodies as their main source of worry.

A 2010 survey of more than1,000 girls, by Girlguiding UK, showed that nearly three-quarters of 7-11-year-olds would change something about their appearance, and by the ages of 10 and 11, one in eight wanted to be thinner.

Girls as young as six are cutting down on what they eat.

Three-quarters of 10- and 11-year-olds would like to change their appearance.