Negative Body-Image and Low Self Esteem Taking the Light and Motivation From our Tweens
Power Tween Girls Club is here to provide solutions
When are Girls Most Vulnerable to the Drop in Self-Esteem?
Pre-Adolescence is when girls are must vulnerable because it's the time puberty hits, it can start as early as eight or 10 for girls. Girls often experience their growth spurt and changes in body shape in the early teen years.
This can be a time of confusion, embarrassment, and discovery, and can bring up issues of individuality and self-identity. A rapidly changing body can cause worry as physical development often occurs before mental, social, and emotional maturity. This disconnect can lead to discomfort in their own skin compounded by the social need to fit in and not be too tall, too short, too thin, or too fat.
Why Is Body Image and Self-Esteem Important?
Body image is how you see yourself when you look in the mirror or when you picture yourself. Having a positive one means you have a clear, true perception of your body, while a negative one gives you a distorted view. Self-esteem is about how much you value yourself and how you feel others value you. It’s important because how a child feels about themselves can affect their behavior and mental health.
People with high self-esteem usually feel more in control of their lives and understand their strengths and weaknesses. Low self-esteem can lead to depression. A 2014 national student behavior survey from the Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration reported that as many as 2.8 million adolescents in the United States between the ages of 12 and 17 experienced at least one depressive episode during that year alone. As depression manifests, it can negatively impact students’ social development and their success in school.
Here are some warning signs:
Reluctant to look in the mirror
Spending more time alone in her room
Having disordered eating habits: refusing indulgent foods, becoming very picky, eating secretively, or bingeing
Putting herself down in a range of ways, especially about how she looks
Preferring to wear loose clothes, to hide either a full or a fragile figure
What Parents Can Do:
If you haven’t already had curious questions, begin talking with your children at age eight or nine about how their body will be changing.
Always encourage your children to talk with you about the physical and emotional changes they are experiencing. Keeping the dialogue going can help your child feel more comfortable discussing questions about their changing body and feelings.
Focus on being healthy, not weight or personal appearance. Pursuit of perfection or a perfect weight is not healthy for pubescents as the body rapidly changes and often fills out haphazardly.
Listen to their concerns and take them seriously. Disregarding feelings of being “different” or that something is wrong may cause your teen to stop sharing.
Create lifelong healthy habits by planning nutritious meals together and talking about drinking enough water. Sharing a physical activity together like hiking, climbing, boating – or even a family walk – can set up lasting activities.
Be a role model. We all have moments where we are frustrated with our own weight or fitness but your sons and daughters will pick up on how you talk about your body and issues with it.
In Conclusion:
You are doing all you can do as a parent, but there but there are so many outside influences that can put your girl at risk. At power tween girls club your daughter will be in a safe place, we cover topics like self esteem, confidence, and self doubt, all while engaging in enriching activities. At this age, girls can form an idea of about themselves and hold onto it for years even though it’s not true.
I want to gently offer opportunities for these girls to express these ideas and see that they are not based on truth. There is nothing more debilitating than a negative self image. Body image not only affects how we see ourselves, but it also affects how we interact with others and how we behave. Under ideal circumstances, kids develop realistic body images, but not all circumstances are ideal in today’s youth climate. It’s even more perplexing being a tween in a selfie society where peer pressure is no longer limited to friends and classmates but also now includes social media with idealized, often air-brushed images.
We have designed a curriculum for girls ages 10-13 to add enrichment to their day and start them off in life with a healthy self-image, allowing them to reach their full potential.
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