Homework #3
“Healthy vs. Perfect”
The truth about body image that you will not find on TV.
The important role of a healthy body image in healthy children
"Be fit, not necessarily thin, and you will be healthy for life!"
Objective:
This module is designed to help students learn that feeding the mind a healthy body image is just as important as feeding the body healthy foods. It will provide the student the opportunity to describe his or her personal ideas about what they believe is a healthy body image, while also providing parents with insight to their child’s understanding of body image and thus opportunity for discussion and changes if necessary. It will also allow for parents and children to discuss how the media can negatively influence their child’s body image every day.
*For this assignment your child will need scissors, glue, and newspapers, magazines, or Internet images.
Student Assignment: 6 days
1) Take three days to collect clippings from newspapers, magazines, and/or Internet websites that can be used to define your idea of body image as seen in the media. After a few days of collecting these images, paste them on a piece of paper titled:
“Body Image A”.
“Body Image A”.
2) Once you are finished with this collage, take three more days to make your own “self” body image collage. Take a new clean sheet of paper, title it “Body Image B” and write, draw, or cut out some of your own personal photos to make this second body image collage. Remember that body image is…
· How you see yourself—both in the mirror and in your mind
· How you feel about your body
· How you feel in your body… how do you sense and control your body as you move… are you comfortable in your body?
· What you believe about your appearance or how you look to others and to yourself.
This is an example of a body image collage for cats and dogs! Yours of course will be for the human body!!
Parent Assignment: 30 minutes
Your child has completed two body image collages. One based on the media-portrayal of body image (Body Image A) and the other based on your child’s self-portrayal of body image (Body Image B). In this assignment your child was only given the definition of body image, but not that of a negative or positive body image. Review your child’s different collages. Read the following article on healthy body image and decide if your child’s body image is: influenced by the media, a negative body image, a positive/ healthy body image, and how you can help to better influence your child’s body image.
Article on Healthy Body Image
According to Nielsen Media Research, a typical child in the United States today watches more than 19 hours of television a week. According to the non-profit organization National Institute on Media and the Family, the average American child plays computer or video games for seven hours each week. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that kids see 40,000 television commercials each year, and they also are exposed to ads on the Internet, in magazines, on billboards, in newspapers, on the radio, and all around them. Media conveys powerful messages—about what is “cool” to wear, what music to listen to, which TV shows to watch. It also sends powerful messages about how people are supposed to look.
The problem is that many of the images children see in the media bear little relationship to real life. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, while the average woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds, the average model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds. In addition, media techniques ranging from airbrushing to the use of “body doubles” create photographs that are visually arresting, but simply no reflection of reality. Unrealistic body image portrayed in the media, and even by forms of entertainment such as toys, may affect both mental and physical health. Seeing thin female and muscular male models can affect kids’ thoughts about their own bodies, and may cause confusion, anxiety, insecurity, anger, or depression, especially for those who already have concerns about their body or place great importance on their appearance. Some kids may risk their physical health through unhealthy dieting or excessive physical activity. Some may begin smoking to control their appetite or develop eating disorders. Some may engage in unhealthy weight training, or use anabolic steroids or dietary supplements, for muscle growth.
The American Academy of Pediatrics states that young children—younger than 8 years—are cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising. They do not understand the notion of intent to sell and frequently accept advertising claims at face value. In fact, in the late 1970s, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held hearings, reviewed the existing research, and came to the conclusion that it was unfair and deceptive to advertise to children younger than 6 years. What kept the FTC from banning such ads was that it was thought to be impractical to implement such a ban. However, some Western countries have done exactly that: Sweden and Norway forbid all advertising directed at children younger than 12 years, Greece bans toy advertising until after 10 pm, and Denmark and Belgium severely restrict advertising aimed at children.
Therefore, just as children need to learn how to be critical of the things they read, they also need to know how to do the same with pictures, video, and sound. The CDC outlines seven key questions that are critical to understanding media messages:
· Who is communicating and why? Every message is communicated for a reason—to entertain, inform, and/or persuade. However, the basic motive behind most media programs is to profit through the sale of advertising space and sponsorships.
· Who owns, profits from, and pays for media messages? Media messages are owned. They are designed to yield results, provide profits, and pay for themselves. Both news and entertainment programming try to increase listenership or viewership to attract advertising dollars. Movies also seek to increase box-office receipts. Understanding the profit motive is key to analyzing media messages.
· How are media messages communicated? Every message is communicated through sound, video, text, and/or photography. Messages are enhanced through camera angles, special effects, editing, and/or music. Analyzing how these features are used in any given message is critical to understanding how it attempts to persuade, entertain, or inform.
· Who receives media messages and what sense is made of them? Messages are filtered through the “interpretive screens” of our beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors. Identifying the target audience for a given message and knowing its “filters” and the way in which it interprets media messages help make you media sharp!
· What are the intended or underlying purposes and whose point of view is behind the message? Behind every message is a purpose and point of view. The advertiser’s purpose is more direct than the program producer’s, though both may seek to entertain us. Understanding their purposes and knowing WHOSE point of view is being expressed and WHY is critical to being media sharp.
· What is NOT being said and why? Because messages are limited in both time and purpose, rarely are all the details provided. Identifying the issues, topics, and perspectives that are NOT included can often reveal a great deal about the purposes of media messages. In fact, this may be the most significant question that can uncover answers to other questions.
· Is there consistency both within and across media? Do the political slant, tone, local/national/international perspective, and depth of coverage change across media or messages? Because media messages tell only part of the story and different media have unique production features, it helps to evaluate multiple messages on the same issue. This allows you to identify multiple points of view, some of which may be missing in any single message or medium. This is typically referred to as the “multi-source rule.”
What is your role as a Parent or Guardian?
Parents play a leading role in their children’s lives. As a parent or other caregiver, you are in a unique position to educate your children about nutrition and help them maintain a positive body image as they enter their teenage years.
Although it may not always seem so, your child pays a lot of attention to what you say and do. If you are constantly complaining about your weight or feel pressured to exercise in order to lose weight or change the shape of your body, your child may learn that losing weight is an important concern. If you are always on the lookout for the new miracle diet, your child may learn that restrictive dieting is a good way to lose weight. And if you tell your child he/she would be much more attractive if he/she lost a few pounds, he/she will learn that the goal of weight loss is attractiveness and acceptance. Here are some questions that can help you consider your own attitudes and behaviors:
-Am I unhappy with my body size and shape?
-Am I always on a diet or going on a diet?
- Do I make fun of overweight people?
- Do I tease my child about body shape or weight?
-Do I focus on exercise for body size and shape control or for health?
Signs Your Child Has a Negative Body Image
Know the warning signs of an unhealthy body image in children in order to identify problems early. What to watch for:
- Signals that a girl or boy views herself /himself only in terms of her/his physical appearance.
- The language your child uses to describe herself/himself and her/his physical development and attractiveness.
- Excessive dieting
- Frequent comments about the weight of other girls/boys
- Worries about sexual attractiveness
- Depression and low self-esteem
Parents can help boost a poor body image by:
- Helping children understand that their bodies will change and grow
- Helping children understand that there is not one "ideal" body shape
- Watching what they say about their own bodies and the comments they make about other people's bodies
- Avoiding stereotypes, prejudices, and words like ugly and fat
- Helping children focus on their abilities and personalities rather than their physical appearance
- Promoting physical activity and exercise. Girls and boys who play sports tend to have higher levels of self-esteem and healthier body images. "Be fit, not necessarily thin, and you will be healthy for life," is an excellent motto.
- Discouraging children from weighing themselves too often
Follow these steps to help your child develop a positive body image and relate to food in a healthy way:
- Make sure your child understands that weight gain is a normal part of development, especially during puberty.
- Avoid negative statements about food, weight, and body size and shape.
- Allow your child to make decisions about food, while making sure that plenty of healthy and nutritious meals and snacks are available.
- Compliment your child on her or his efforts, talents, accomplishments, and personal values.
- Restrict television viewing, and watch television with your child and discuss the media images you see.
- Encourage your school to enact policies against size and sexual discrimination, harassment, teasing, and name-calling; support the elimination of public weigh-ins and fat measurements.
· Keep the communication lines with your child open.
Sources
2) womenshealth.gov:
4) American Academy of Pediatrics:
· Children, Adolescents, and Advertising.Pediatrics 1995; 95:2 295-297
· Children, Adolescents, Obesity, and the Media Pediatrics 2011; 128:1 201-208
6) Montana Team Nutrition. Montana office of public instruction and Montana State University: http://www.opi.state.mt.us
Parent and Student combined assignment: 30 minutes-1 hour
1) Review your two collages with your parents and talk about what the pictures you chose to use in the collages mean to you. Tell them how the pictures in your collages define body image. Are there differences between the collages you cut out from magazines, newspapers, etc. and your own self-body image collage? Describe to your parents how the two collages make you feel.
2) What are some things that you think might affect a person’s body image?
3) If a person has a negative body image, what does that mean? Think of an example of how negative body image might impact a person in their daily life? On the other hand, how might a positive body image impact a person?
4) Now, read the following out loud with your parent:
When you have a Positive Body Image, you…
· Appreciate and celebrate your natural body shape
· Understand that a person’s physical appearance is only a part of who they are and that physical appearance says little about their character or value as a person.
· Have a clear view of your shape – you see your body as it really is and feel comfortable in it.
When you have a Negative Body Image, you may…
· Have a distorted view of your shape – you see your body differently than it actually is.
· Think other people find you unattractive
· See your size or shape as a sign of personal failure
"Be fit, not necessarily thin, and you will be healthy for life!"
5) List at least 5 characteristics, attributes or things about yourself that you think are the most important characteristics that define who you are right now. Keep in mind, these things change as we have new experiences and grow-up… but for now… what defines your own Healthy Style?
*For some fun go online and play the CDC Media decoder online game: http://www.bam.gov/sub_yourlife/yourlife_addecoder_game.html
