If someone asks if you talk about a body image with your toddler or preschooler, first you may think the answer is no. But think about it again.
Do you describe your child’s friend with the appearance?
For example, “A, are you talking about the boy with the blond curly hair?”
Or “Is the girl Sophia who is very tall?”
You sometimes do these, right?
I’m not trying to say they are wrong but I want you to realize that we do talk about the appearance of other people with young children.
Children, also, may not be the one who start talking about the others’ appearance, however, they are observing and noticing the differences in people’s appearances.
I think looking at the appearances, comparing self to others and developing a body image are sadly unavoidable as long as we live in a society where there are other humans. And the risk of being negatively affected by them may start from an early age.
So I recommend you to check this book with your child.
Book “Zebra in the Mirror” by Tina Arnus Pupis (author) and Marta Bartolj (illustrator)
This book shows a zebra’s thinking time alone.
She starts to have negative thoughts about her body. The laughter from other animals strengthens the negative thoughts and zebra becomes really sad.
But at one moment, zebra stops the spiral of negative thoughts and starts looking at her body from a different side. After finding the good things about her body, zebra becomes confident and happy.
It’s not a long book and it can be a good book for toddlers and preschoolers.
In the episode 68 of Teacher Gela Podcast, I talk about the parts that you can go back and have a conversation about with your child.
They are about
- Feelings
- Behaviours in a social group
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Reflecting
- Social emotional skills
Listen to the episode and learn how you can use this book to develop a healthy body image and self-confidence with your child.
Activity I talk about in the episode
Happy learning and quality time!
Teacher Gela