Body Image

One question that has been nagging at me since my daughter was born is: "How do I teach her to love her body and see herself as beautiful?". I came across this article that reminded me of my concerns: 'Teaching kids what attractive really means.' Basically, the story talks about how important it is to model good body image to your kids. When I was reading this story, it actually brought tears to my eyes because I have never had a good body image that I can remember. I can't remember a time when I didn't obsess over my body. I'm sure there was a time before I hit puberty, but I don't remember it. The earliest memory I have of a peer saying something about my looks was in 7th grade. I was walking by myself outside the school and two boys passed by me. One of them was my neighbor (and yes, I remember his name). He looked at the other and said, "that's the girl you think has big'uns." I was mortified! If I hadn't already been self-conscious about my early developed and larger then average breasts, I would have been after hearing that! It clearly affected me if I remember all those details. I know I can't stop things like that from happening to Kaitlin; I just hope I can teach her to handle them well and to love herself and others no matter what they look like!

Anyway, having gotten back into some bad habits of emotional eating, I am reminded that Kaitlin is always watching and that I don't want to teach her the same bad habits I have developed. It's actually one of the reasons I finally started Weight Watchers. I was having such a hard time losing weight after she was born and I really needed some accountability. I didn't want to teach my poor self management to Kaitlin. While the structure and accountability of Weight Watchers really helped me manage my food intake and lose weight, I am seeing that I need to do some more work to manage my emotions so that I don't slip back into my old habits all the time.