By Fred Pry for REAL CLEAR RELIGION
Do you always like the way you look? It’s easy to have a critical view of our own body and see only flaws in the mirror. Many kids also struggle with having a positive body image. As they grow and their bodies change, they can become uncomfortable with themselves. Add that to the views of the media and their peers, and once happy, carefree kids may become self-conscious or insecure. Like most things, words can have a huge impact on how kids view themselves — either feeding into those insecurities or encouraging a positive body image for them. As Body Positivity Month was recently celebrated, it is imperative now more than ever that children come to understand that they were created by God, for God, and through his loving design for them.
Here are three godly truths you can teach children to help instill a positive body image.
1. Teach kids they’re created in God’s image
The first thing all children should take to heart for a positive body image is that God lovingly created them in His image. Each person was tenderly made by God to be special and unique in their own way. No one was meant to look or act exactly alike — having differences is good! If all of creation was the same, what a boring world we’d live in.
Do the kids in your life see themselves as unique, special and worthy of celebrating their differences? Or do they struggle with having a positive body image because they would rather look the same as others? Genesis 1:27 says “God created man and woman in His image.” While this doesn’t necessarily mean that God looks exactly like all of us (as the Bible tells us that God is also spirit), we are created with elements of God in our design and makeup, and that is a beautiful thing. Talk with kids about what it means to be made in God’s image and ask them to list the ways in which people are different from the rest of creation. Building a positive body image for kids means reminding them that it’s also His image they see in the mirror.
