Spilling the tea
The question I get asked the most isn’t so surprising, but the responses are. Mums are always coming to me asking “Cliona, I want to help my kids to feel good about their bodies, how do I do it?”.
And I also reply with “By becoming a body confident role model”.
Most parents will reply with “Ok, show me how to do it, it’s time I figured out how to feel good in my skin”.
The other parents who don’t say “YES! SHOW ME” always reply with “No, I don’t want to work on my body image, just tell me how to help my kids”. But here is the thing… you can’t show someone to do something you can’t do. If you couldn’t drive a car then would you try and teach your kids to drive? (I hope not). I can tell you in theory how to help your kids but again, that’s the same as you describing to your kids how-to drive-in theory but not being able to show them how to do it. In short, it doesn’t work.
If you are in a place where you feel like you’ve tried everything to show your kids how to like their bodies, but nothing works… then you may be in a place where you are telling your kids how to like their bodies in theory but you can’t show them how to do it. I’m going to be honest here, it doesn’t matter how much you tell your kid “you don’t need to change, you’re beautiful”, it’s not going to work.
If you are frustrated at not being able to help your kids with their body image then I have the solution.
If you see yourself in what I have said, reach out, feel free to email me at coach@clionabyrne.com