Making Sense Of “The Body Image” In Kids’ Magical World

The Concept :

Body Image essentially refers to the entire ocean of feelings that arise inside you when you think of or see your own body. Whether you feel loved, protected; worthy or disgusted, ashamed and swayed by an obsessive need to metamorphose would decide whether you carry a positive self-image or a negative one.

The way a person looks at himself/herself is greatly determined by their personal experiences, assumptions, perceptions, cultural & societal ideologies, memories and moments of truth. Oh, and did I miss stating “Media & Glamour”… this entity all around us deeply influences our thoughts about “The ideal body”.

By the way, if you feel that body image is an issue that impacts women…think again. Kids struggle with body image issues right from an early age. A 3-year-old today is well versed with the marketers’ beauty paradigm with brands and attractive figures ruling the media world all around.

The Story:

So when I was explaining the concept of body image and how we should be respectful towards our own bodies, the younger chap quickly ran to the bookshelf to pick up his favorite pop-up book and was eager to narrate me the story of “The Ugly Duckling”. It is amazing how kids are so aware and can come up with connections and ideas from a completely different paradigm and amalgamate into the present discussion as it was always meant to be a part of.

By the way, this is a great sign of creativity in kids. And did you hear me say C- Creativity..? Stay Tuned..

The Ugly Duckling in the story is teased, bullied and abused a lot for being ugly & having different looks in the group of ducks. He remained aloof and hurt from all the things that were said to him. But a day comes when he grew up and realized how beautiful he is when he landed up in his own group of swans who looked like him. To say the least, there is much that can be taught to kids with this tale but my primary 2 discussion points were

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1. Beauty is bigger than physical appearances. We have to see beyond the looks and value the person for his true inner beauty. Look for his positive qualities and value him for those.
2. Keeping quiet when others are being harsh, rude and mean is the worst thing you could do for your self. We should always stand up for our own selves and rise above those mean comments.

My elder one related to this “Smart behavior” displayed by Princess Belle in Beauty & the Beast who rose above the outer beauty & saw the Beast’s inner beauty and fell in love with him. However, she also saw a striking contrast in the character of the prince in the same story, who was initially being mean and rude to the old woman because of her appearance.

The Beauty & The Beast

With this, I ended my discussion for the day and retired to a good nights sleep knowing that my kids have the right thoughts planted in their minds.

Image via Shutterstock

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