Body Image Language Audit
How the adults in a house talk about bodies and food — which children absorb completely, including the parts said about the adults themselves.
The strongest household influence on children's body image is what adults say about their own bodies rather than about the child — and of fourteen habits checked here, three of the four weighted highest are about adult self-commentary.
Body Image Language Audit
Frequently asked
What should I stop saying?
The two most common are moral language about food — good, bad, naughty, earned — and negative comments about your own body. Both are so normalised that most people are unaware of the frequency until they count for a week.
Is complimenting a child on their appearance harmful?
Not in itself. The concern in the research is proportion: where appearance is the main thing a child is praised for, it becomes the main thing they evaluate themselves on. Balance matters more than avoidance.
What about praising weight loss in an adult?
It is one of the most common everyday comments and children hear it as a rule about what bodies should do. It is also the comment most likely to land badly with someone whose weight changed for a reason nobody knows about.
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