A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation press release this week announced the following: “7% of 5th
graders unhappy with body size”.

According to a new study, Canadian children as young as 10 years old may benefit from programs to “improve satisfaction with body shape”. The study of 4,254 Nova Scotia fifth graders suggests girls were
happiest when thinnest while boys were unhappy when they were too skinny or too fat.

The study was designed to look at the prevalence of poor body satisfaction in prepubescent boys and girls, and associations with body weight and socioeconomic factors.

In 2003, researchers measured the height and weight of students and asked them how much they agreed with the statement: “I like the way I look.” The choices ranged from “never or almost never,” “sometimes” to “often or almost always,” and a response of “never or almost never” was considered poor body satisfaction.

Overall, 7.3 per cent of girls and 7.8 per cent of boys reported poor body satisfaction.

Indeed, body image dissatisfaction is becoming increasingly commonplace in our kids, but you may not be aware of how early the weight obsession is starting.

· Research shows that dieting to lose weight and fear of fatness are common in girls as young as 7, and 81% of 10-year-old girls say they are afraid of being fat.

· In 1970, the average girl started dieting at age 14; by 1990, the average age dropped to 8.

· Fifty-one percent of 9- and 10-year-old girls say they feel better about themselves when they are on a diet, and one-half of 4th grade girls are on a diet.

· Nearly one-half of teenage girls and one-third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, or taking laxatives.

· A recent study showed that adolescent girls were more afraid of gaining weight than of nuclear war, developing cancer, or losing their parents!

The relationship between poor body satisfaction and increased risk of eating disorder behaviors such as use of vomiting, laxatives and diet pills is well established.

Therefore, our kids need to see a wide range of body types being embraced, messages of the thin ideal being contradicted, and their unique and individual beauty being applauded and cherished.

A highly recommended resource along this line, helpful to parents and in turn, their children is Dara Chadwick’s new book, “You’d be so pretty if…”