Ways to help teens with body image issues : Personally, it is not easy to accept the fact that your teenager is having body image issues. After all the care you have done throughout childhood, how can my teenager become a victim of such a deadly issue. It seems that I have failed to bring up my child to be confident and mentally healthy. 

After months and months of struggle I can tell with confidence that we are making progress. I would like to share some of my personal experience to help the parents of the affected. 

6 ways to help teens with body image issues

1.Find out the cause

First and foremost thing you need to do is find the cause of this feeling in your teen. When you will find cause you will be well equipped to find solution also. The cause can be anything from  toxic friendship, may be influence of social media or criticizing environment of school or college or even your home. Once you find the cause, now you need to act to mitigate it.  

2.Limitation social media:

The second thing you can do is put limitation on the use of social media. Yes it can help. Use tact when you deal with this. Rather than upfront blaming social media and restricting them. You can tactfully do it by saying “I think you should limit screen time and should focus on meeting your friends outdoors. 

You can also simply tell them “there are fake standards of lifestyles and beauty on social media which I don’t find suitable for your personality. As a parent I want you to focus on other achievements and attributes of your personality rather than focusing on physical appearances.”

3.Narrate some stories

There are so many influencers who share their stories of body image issues in their teenage phase. After watching some stories you can narrate these stories to your kids. 

Again I will recommend don’t relate their personalities with these stories but talk in indirect way. Like you can start a conversation like, “While scrolling through YouTube I watched a video which hit me hard. I realized that a person real achievement is its success not its physical features. I will also share video link with you. You should watch that video also.” Moreover, you can also narrate stories from your personal experience.

4.Give Extra love and care:

If you feel one kid of yours is suffering from body image issue then you should give him extra love and care. Praise them on their achievements. Tell them how they are unique and different. 

You can also comment on their looks when they get ready for something. I am not saying to lie but there is always something you will find nice in your kid. Just praise for that. Such kind of compliments will encourage them to move with confidence.

5.Engage them

The other thing you can take help from is engage your teens. There is a saying, “I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking.” So this is a great way to divert attention of your teen. 

Encourage them to take part in sports or physical activities. In this way they will find other hidden aspects of their personality and will become more confident.

6.Praise them:

Praising is another way to help teen with body image issues. Whenever you child accomplishes any goal no matter small or big, always celebrate their achievements and praise them. When you praise them, they will soon find that there are other concerning things in world than their physical features.

Conclusion: 

Statics proof that the disease is affecting many teenagers. It is evident that the numbers will only increase due to the fact that social media is at an on-going roll! 

Every parent must educate themselves about the issue and how to overcome the issue. A great help would be to share the experience of helping their teenagers with other parents instead of hiding the issue. Remember, body image issue is very common among teenagers and there is no need to feel ashamed. Let us, parents, become one unit to resolve this together!

God Bless..!!