| Food fixations
Fat is a feminist issue, now it’s also a childhood issue. Jane Bartlett on the way we pass on our hang-ups about body image New figures published in the British Medical Journal confirm what has been widely feared – our children are ballooning. Researchers from King’s College London have calculated that, from 1984 to 1994, overweight increased from 5.4% to 9% in English boys and 9.3% to 13.5% in English girls. Figures were even higher for Scottish children. A sedentary lifestyle and too many high fat foods are thought to be the main reasons why obesity is rapidly becoming the single biggest children’s health concern. Long-term physical implications include, increased risk of diabetes and heart disease as adults. Just as fat is an emotive issue for adults, so it is for children Children’s anxieties about fat are horrifyingly expressed in the increasing number of youngsters who develop eating disorders. Children as young as six are now becoming anorexic and, according to Deanne Jade, the Principal for the National Centre for Eating Disorders, children as young as five have phobias about the possibility of gaining weight. ‘By the age of nine or ten, a third of all children are actively amending their eating, in order to deal with the possibility of weight gain,’ she says. Children, who have traditionally been carefree and unselfconscious about their bodies, are now spending those precious early years fretting about the size of their tummies and bottoms. A recent survey conducted on behalf of the private health care provider, BUPA, showed that one in five children wants cosmetic surgery because they don’t think their looks are good enough. Passing on the right messages about body image Clinical psychologist, Lindsey Williams, believes children are simply echoing what is going on in the adult world. ‘We are becoming increasingly anxious, as a society, about obesity,’ she says. We are passing down to our children our own hang-ups about food and body image, which is why London psychotherapist, Em Farrell, warns parents to be careful when they talk about their bodies in front of children. Farrell, who has herself recovered from bulimia, runs day workshops for parents who are worried about their children and food. She advises parents to talk positively about their own bodies, within earshot of their children. This is particularly important for mothers and daughters, where connections between dieting and eating disorders are most often found. ‘If you see your mother expressing dissatisfaction with her own body, it’s not surprising that a child thinks that a female body is not the best thing to have,’ says Farrell.
From a very young age, children are surrounded by glamorous images of skinny models, television presenters, cartoon characters and pop idols. Barbie or Action Man may seem like harmless toys for three year olds but, already, these dolls with their impossible dimensions are feeding into the toddler’s sense of what it means to be attractive. It’s important for parents to fill a child’s world with more realistic images of human beauty, or, at least, explain to them that size eight babes and six-pack stomachs are far from the norm. A child needs to have it affirmed that they look nice just the way they are. Create a healthy food environment Protecting a child from developing an eating disorder also means creating a healthy food environment at home. Make sure there is a good supply of fruit and vegetables and nutritionally balanced meals on offer. You also need to look at the feelings generated around food in your home. Em Farrell advocates a relaxed approach. This doesn’t mean letting a child eat whatever they want, nor does it mean controlling every morsel that passes their lips. There is, says Farrell, a middle path. She is happy for her four year-old daughter to have chocolate biscuits at breakfast, on the understanding that she can’t have any more later in the day. She doesn’t advise forcing a child to clear their plate before they can have pudding, as it puts too much value on the sweet food; plus a child needs to learn for themselves the signals that tell them they are full. Formal sit down meals together are lovely, but a TV dinner can be fun too. And should children be allowed to eat sweets and other so called ‘bad’ foods? Some middle class parents refuse to give young children any sweets, offering rice cakes and crackers as snacks instead. The theory behind this is that they won’t know what they are missing, and that, giving sugar fuels a sweet tooth. Farrell is sceptical, believing this can backfire, badly. Sweet foods ‘become over important if you deny them altogether,’ she says. Her view is supported by research from Pennsylvania State University, which studied five to nine year olds. Those who had been prevented from eating fattening foods were at greater risk of suffering weight and eating problems, and binged on banned foods when their parents weren’t around. How to teach your child to love their body
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