'Why we need to stop commenting on kids' bodies'
By Victoria Owens|
OPINION -- It's a sad day when, in 2024, young children are still being talked to about their weight จC and worse, are worried about their weight.
Body image issues are (unfortunately) an adult problem but have no place taking up space in our children's brains.
Yet Olympic champion and mum-of-four Libby Trickett was confronted head-on by a moment with her daughter that I'm sure she wishes never happened.
Watch video above.
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Being the smart, emotionally intelligent mum she is, Trickett has turned what could have been a detrimental moment in her daughter's life into a positive one.?
She says "someone close" to the family told her daughter she looked like she "had lost weight" and "looked great".
It's a statement that is so harmful on so many levels, I just hope for Trickett's sake that her daughter will take it with a grain of salt rather than use it as the root of body image issues for years to come like so many of us.
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What this so-called friend probably didn't realise was that her one comment could have repercussions for decades.?
Words hold more power than we give them credit for, and the words we attach to appearance and our bodies can have lasting effects on anyone, let alone our children.
It's crazy we have come so far in so many ways but still haven't quite got there when it comes to commenting on kids' bodies.
Kids should be worried about when the next game is going to start, not about how much food they're putting in their mouth or how much their body is changing.?
But this isn't an isolated case.
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Just last week, I spoke to a mother who had been battling body image issues her entire life because of a passing comment someone had made when she was a child.
Another mother thought she was fat from age seven because of an offhand comment also made by a family friend during her childhood.
Worse yet, another mother admitted her four-year-old daughter thought she was fat after watching her mother saying the same thing.
There's a reason the Bluey episode titled 'exercise' was taken down and remade, because the way we talk about these weighty issues in front of our kids matters.
We need to stop talking about anyone's body, period, because as Trickett says, it is the "least interesting thing about a person".??
It's worth mentioning Trickett refers to the person behind the comment as "slightly older", and while it does make sense, it still doesn't make it right.
The older generations still place so much value and importance on appearance that we often forget how quickly they can cast judgement without meaning to. Unfortunately, that's just the way they were brought up.?
I'm sure this person would have no idea that their throwaway remark about weight tells a little girl that a smaller, thinner version of herself is worthy of praise.
I'm sure she didn't mean any harm and was more likely trying to give a compliment.
Trickett says she has since spoken to this friend and has updated her on how that moment should have gone.
Now, she's using it as an example to spread the word to everyone who may think that it is OK.
It is not OK. End of story. Instead, Trickett says we should be celebrating humour, intelligence and kindness. Bodies should be last on that list.
And I couldn't agree more.
