BROWNIES - guidesontario.org · Raising Confident Girls: 100 Tips for Parents and Teachers Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer Learn to take advantage of everyday situations to bolster girls’

Loveyourself

CHALLENGE

Body Image and Self-Esteem Backgrounder

BROWNIES

BACKGROUNDER

FOR GUIDERS

2Backgrounder for Guiders: Brownies

Backgrounder on body image and self-esteemfor Brownie Guiders

Girl Guides of Canada has partnered with the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) to create the GGC/NEDIC Love Yourself Challenge.

About NEDIC (National Eating Disorder Information Centre) The National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) is a Canadian non-profit organization that provides information, education, resources and referrals for individuals struggling with eating disorders or weight preoccupation — and for the families, friends and professionals who support them. With a focus on self-acceptance and building positive self-esteem, NEDIC promotes healthy lifestyles by raising awareness of body image and disordered eating issues through community workshops, school presentations and professional conferences. NEDIC also operates a national helpline that provides information on treatment and support, Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (EST). If you or someone you love is struggling with an eating disorder, or if you would like to learn more about the organization, call NEDIC’s toll free helpline at 1-866-NEDIC-20 (1-866-633-4220) or visit nedic.ca

About the GGC/NEDIC Love Yourself ChallengeThis Challenge is designed to facilitate discussion and skill-building activities on the top-ics of body acceptance, how to identify and resist unhealthy pressures regarding body shape and weight, and how to constructively respond to body-based teasing. Through the Challenge discussions and activities, Brownies will begin to learn:

• That understanding and appreciating their bodies will help them feel better about themselves• How to consider the nature of beauty and goodness• How to express feelings about themselves• Why body-based teasing is unacceptable

Loveyourself

CHALLENGE

Body Image and Self-Esteem Activities

SparkS

Love Yourself Challenge Quest NEDIC poster Challenge booklet


Key definitions

• Body image: An individual’s beliefs, thoughts and attitudes towards her body. Body image includes what we believe about our bodies, how we picture ourselves, how we feel about the way we look and what we can do with our bodies as well as how we think others see us. Body image encompasses a diverse range of physical features (e.g., weight, height, facial features, colour, and physical maturation) and abilities.

• Self-esteem: The opinion you have of yourself; the degree to which a person likes or approves of herself in general. Self-esteem affects how you take care of yourself physically, emotionally and spiritually.

• Set-point weight: An individual’s body weight - like height - is largely genetically determined. It is passed on from your parents and grandparents. Each person has a biologically optimal weight range, which fluctuates by approximately 2-7 kilograms. It is healthiest for one’s weight to remain within this natural, genetically inherited set-point; thus, the body will fight to maintain its set-point when deviations occur e.g., restricted caloric intake, through slowing or increasing metabolism.

o Biologically optimal weight may not be the person’s ideal weight, which is strong-ly influenced by societal ideals.

o Weight, like height, is diverse in humans and distributed in a normal bell curve.

Background information for Guiders

Canadian girls are growing up in a society that increasingly exposes them to adult concepts and concerns from a young age. In addition to pressures from family, friends and school, Canadian girls also face an increasing number of messages about physical appearance from the media, which sends conflicting (and often dangerous) messages regarding healthy eating, appropri-ate exercise, and what is beautiful. Although young girls may not realize it, the media bombards them with the message that thinness is ideal and beautiful, and that it leads to acceptance, happiness and a desirable lifestyle. Given these pressures, it is not surprising that girls begin to demonstrate body image concerns and unrealistic attitudes towards their bodies from a young age. For instance, around the age of 7 or 8, girls begin to demonstrate a desire to be thin. In addition, girls begin to show higher levels of body dissatisfaction during this period, regardless of their weight, and body-based harassment (teasing and bullying based on physical appearance) begins to occur. Research has shown that a positive body image can lead to better self-esteem, emotional stability, happiness and confidence among girls. In contrast, a negative body image has been associated with a number of physical and emotional difficulties, including:

• Poor self-esteem• Withdrawal from physical, scholastic/career and

social activities


• Academic difficulties• Limiting of food choices• Extreme weight manipulation• Disordered eating (e.g., binge eating or dieting)• Anxiety and depression

Given the serious consequences that can result from having a negative body image, it is essen-tial to build resilience and educate girls about the importance of appreciating and taking care of their bodies. The following list provides a number of strategies that parents and other important people in girls’ lives (e.g., Guiders) can use to promote healthy body images among girls.

Tips for promoting a healthy body image

• Help girls understand the role of genetics in determining a person’s natural weight, size, and body type and that humans naturally come in a range of sizes, shapes, weights and co-lours. Note: you may have to explain what genetic means; for example, physical traits are often passed on from your parents and grandparents.

• Encourage physical activity and healthy eating as a means for physical and mental well-being and enjoyment, rather than weight manipulation.

• Frequently expose girls to messages that focus on body acceptance, non-dieting and weight acceptance.

• Continually reinforce the message that all bodies are to be respected.• Engage in discussions that challenge media messages endorsing narrowly defined

socially desirable physical appearances.• Be a role model who is positive and accepting of your own body. • Avoid making negative comments about your own appearance and that of others. • Challenge body-based put-downs and teach girls how to challenge body-based bul-

lying.• Compliment girls on their abilities, character and areas that they excel in rather than

their appearance.

Discussion questions

The questions listed below can be used to start a conversation with Brownies about body im-age and the unacceptability of body-based teasing. Alternatively, you could ask the questions throughout the meeting and/or at the end of the meeting in order to reflect on what was learned.

• What does it mean to be a good person?• What makes a person beautiful?

o Emphasize the message that there is no ideal beauty (i.e., everyone is beautiful in their own way; beauty is in the eye of the beholder).

• What does a healthy body look like? (Be careful not to discriminate against differently able individuals.)o Emphasize that healthy bodies come in many different shapes and sizes. Guid-

ers may want to ask the question “what does a health body do?” and guide the conversation to functionality and instrumentalism of bodies. For example, “I’ve got good lungs – I can hold my breath underwater for ages” or “My legs are


strong and so I’m a great hiker” or “My eyes are good and I can see far”, or “ My body is healthy so I can think and concentrate”.

o Guiders may ask what their Brownies each appreciate about their own bodies – what they can do, etc.

• Why is it unacceptable to tease people about their appearance?• What can we do if we see someone making fun of another person’s appearance?

o Example: Do not encourage or laugh at jokes that make fun of a person’s body. Similarly, do not ignore negative comments about a person’s physical appear-ance. Instead, challenge these comments in a constructive manner that informs peers as to why such comments are hurtful.*

• What can we do to make ourselves feel good about ourselves and our bodies?

*Challenging negative commentsContext is everything. How one addresses negative comments depends on why and how they are said. Guiders can challenge negative comments made by Brownies by asking the Brownie why she said what she did. What did the Brownie want to convey with her statement? If the Brownie expresses an emotion, the Guider can help her express it without personalizing the situation, especially not to a physical attribute of the other girl/person.

Examples of negative comments:

Sam: “You’re a big fat idiot, Raven! Why did you do that?”Guider: “Sam, that is not a nice thing to say. It’s hurtful and not true to call Raven names. Are you frustrated that Raven didn’t throw the ball to you? You need to focus on the problem, not the person. Please apologize to Raven for being rude and then let’s look at how our team could have done better.”This strategy helps the child to identify her feelings and to separate them from the person she attacked.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Websites:

National Eating Disorder Information Centrewww.nedic.caThis website offers a broad range of information and resources on body image, self-esteem and the continuum of food and weight concerns. A good selection of website links and articles. Award winning posters available.

MediaSmartswww.mediasmarts.ca This site includes lesson plans on prejudice, body image and gender issues as well as book lists.

Fight hate and promote tolerancewww.tolerance.orgExplore this wide-ranging website from the Southern Poverty Law Centre. Contains a fat/thin bias test and a column entitled Making Room for Size Accep-tance. Good section on Parenting for Tolerance.


Love Your Bodyhttp://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/index.htmlThis organization promotes healthy body image and helps us embrace our natural differences.

Books

Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the BodySusan BordoUntangles the myths, ideologies and pathologies of the modern female body, exploring disor-dered eating through tensions within consumer society, cultural ambivalence towards women and women’s power.

The Beauty MythNaomi WolfPopular exploration of the influences and impacts of societal norms and expectations of girls and women.

Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your HealthGlenn A. GaesserAn easy-reading review of the myths and facts of dieting, exercise and weight. Highly recom-mended.

Children and Teens Afraid to Eat: Helping Youth in Today’s Weight Obsessed World Frances M. BergAward-winning book exploring social pressure to be thin and its effects on youth. Provides guidelines to make healthy changes.

Real Kids Come in All Sizes: Ten Essential Lessons to Build your Child’s Body EsteemKathy KaterStrategies to encourage normal eating and physical activity; acceptance of size diversity; com-fort in developing bodies and develop strong individual identities.

Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues that Teach Kids to do the Right Thing

Michele BorbaPractical insights, workable strategies and stories for individuals liv-

ing or working with children. Helps to build moral intelligence.

When Girls Feel FatSandra FriedmanA practical guide to help guide girls into healthy, confident adulthood


Cliques: 8 steps to Help Your Child Survive the Social JungleCharlene C. Giannnetti and Margaret SagareseAn acclaimed parenting-advice team focuses on the traumatic effects caused by cliques in schools and offers an innovative eight-step program to turn around the culture of cruelty among students.

Raising Confident Girls: 100 Tips for Parents and Teachers Elizabeth Hartley-BrewerLearn to take advantage of everyday situations to bolster girls’ self-image.

A Hunger So Wide and So DeepBecky W. ThompsonUses real women’s stories from a variety of socio-cultural backgrounds to challenge the idea that eating problems are restricted to certain race or class groups.

Girls Seen AND HeardThe Ms. Foundation for Women and Sondra ForsythFifty-two life lessons to help foster girls’ confidence so that they can reach their full potential.

Materials for Brownies themselves

New Moon Magazine for girls 8 – 12http://www.newmoon.com/magazine/

Girls Inc.Girls Inc. links girls with resources and leadership skills and opportunities.www.girlsinc.org

Power Camp NationalAn organization designed to empower girls to take action for themselves and in their communitieswww.girlsactionfoundation.ca


Arthur’s EyesArthur’s NoseMarc Brown

The Mixed-Up ChameleonEric Carle

I Like Me!Nancy Carlson

We are a RainbowNancy Maria Grande Tabor

Makeup MessRobert Munsch

The Straight Line WonderMem Fox

Happy to be NappyBell Hooks and Chris Raschka

The Paperbag PrincessRobert Munsch

Developed by the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) The Dove Self-Esteem Fund is a proud sponsor of NEDIC

Documents

BROWNIES - guidesontario.org · Raising Confident Girls: 100 Tips for Parents and Teachers Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer Learn to take advantage of everyday situations to bolster girls’