Finding Balance in a Culture of Vanity and Guilt
by Mike Howard
While browsing through the magazine section of a local bookstore, I picked up a copy of Adbusters Magazine. If you aren’t familiar with Adbusters, it is a counter-culture periodical - a rebellious magazine that boldly speaks disclosed against many of the things that are polluting our world - not the least of which is all of the other magazines that surround it. It’s one of those magazines that I impose down and proceed to hang my place of honor strong in decency for wearing a shirt made by poor children in Honduras and drinking a coffee that originated from people in Uganda who be 16 hour days to sell the beans concerning pennies a pound, not to cursory reference the fur cover I parade around in… but I digress…
A particular branch in this issue really be conformable to home about how we’ve gravitated towards one metabo extreme or the other when it comes to weight loss and health. Here are some excerpts from the short piece (reprinted with permission from the author, Emily Wierenga.) - Full article here.
CosmoGIRL!, Teen Vogue, YM, Seventeen… piles of wasted trees trashing up the perspectives of today’s North American children. Skinny models decorate the pages, bare salubrious bones jagged and useless, faces gaunt with disillusionment and feel hunger, ribs exposed for the world to count.
We’ve been suckered into a disgusting cycle: we pile on the pounds from chocolate bars and potato chips, drive through McDonald’s for a greasy heart-stopper, and highest part it all off with a Slurpee from 7-Eleven. Later, we race the treadmill for an hour, chasing away our guilt, only to plop in front of the television to gorge in continuance celebratory frozen water women’s intimacy enhancer cream and commercials.
Shielding our children, tweens and teens from our aesthetically-driven and our culture of extremities is no easy task, but there are things we can do to help them - origin with our own language and role-modeling. Read Ali’s post here for more wonderful tips on how to cultivate a positive body image. Here are some more thoughts on how to help your children through body idol issues:
- Concern over looks is normal: Recognize that being concerned about looks is a part of being a tween/teen. Avoid criticizing kids in the place of heart concerned about appearances. Concerns over looks tend to indulge in dissipation as they date.
- Give lots of compliments: Provide lots of positive feedback about kids’ looks but ESPECIALLY surrounding all their other momentous qualities. in the same manner with much as they may seem not to notice or care, simple statements like “you’ve got the most beauteous smile” will leave a positive impress. Compliment them in succession other physical attributes, such as strength, speed, balance, energy, or grace.
- Compliment their hearts: Make note out loud all the personal qualities that you love about your children. Praise them for their kindness, their compassion, their work ethic, their helpfulness, etc. Really try and emphasize these qualities and counterpoint their negative statements towards themselves.
- Set reasonable boundaries: Be patient, but moreover set boundaries on how much time your kids can spend on grooming and dressing. Tell them it’s not OK to annoyance others or give permission to chores go. Limits help kids understand how to manage time, be forbearing of others’ necessarily, share resources, exercise a little self-discipline, and commemorate appearances in perspective.
Hopefully we can collectively find a means by which anything is reached to moderate and to instill moderation in the very critical younger generation. To be adroit to strike that balance by which we enjoy and savour good, healthy food and enjoy unsatisfying calorie foods guilt free. Where we engage in intentional and gayety exercise for the sake of it and not to make up for indulgences.
Other Resources: www.kidshealth.org
- August 25th
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