What It Means
Body positivity for kids is a parenting phrase for helping a child think well of their own body and treat it with respect, whatever its shape or size. It has no medical definition. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) uses the term positive body image, and its 2016 clinical report on adolescents asks families to keep conversations about habits like eating well and moving, and to leave weight out of them.
Try It: Pick the Line That Fits the AAP's Advice
In each pair, tap the line that fits the AAP's advice to talk about habits and health instead of weight. The lines are examples.
1. Dinner is on the table
Yes. The AAP encourages more frequent family meals.
That puts weight into the conversation, which the AAP advises against.
2. Your child says they want to diet
Yes. The AAP advises discouraging dieting and skipped meals.
Skipping meals is one of the habits the AAP says to discourage.
3. After a family bike ride
Yes. It praises being active and what the body did.
That ties exercise to weight instead of health and fun.
How Parents Say It
- "In our house we don't talk about anyone's weight."
- "Bodies come in all shapes and sizes."
- "Your legs are strong, look how fast you ran."
The Breakdown
What the AAP's 2016 report advises families
| AAP advice | What it can sound like at home (examples) |
|---|---|
| Talk about healthy eating and being active, not weight | "Let's get a vegetable on every plate this week." |
| Discourage dieting, skipped meals and diet pills | "In our house everyone eats breakfast." |
| Promote a positive body image | "Your arms carried all the groceries in." |
| Don't use unhappiness with a body as a reason to diet | Talk about the feeling, and keep food out of it |
| Eat together as a family more often | A set dinner night, phones away |
By age. The AAP report is written about adolescents. Its household habits, family meals and talk about health rather than weight, are ones a family can keep with children of any age.
When to talk to the doctor. Bring it up with your child's pediatrician if your child starts skipping meals, talks a lot about losing weight, or seems very unhappy with their body. The AAP has a separate clinical report on identifying eating disorders in children and adolescents, and the pediatrician is the right first stop.
Good to Know
The AAP's 2016 report asks for a focus on healthy living and healthy habits rather than on weight, and it says obesity prevention done that way doesn't push children toward eating disorders. Comments about your own body count too: a peer-reviewed review in PubMed Central, "Parent to Child Intergenerational Transmission of Direct and Indirect Weight and Shape Communication," describes parents' remarks about their own weight and their own dieting as indirect messages, and links both direct and indirect weight talk with poorer outcomes for children.
FAQ
Should I talk to my child about their weight?
The AAP's 2016 clinical report encourages families not to talk about weight and to talk instead about healthy eating and being active. If you're worried about your child's weight or eating, raise it with the pediatrician.
Is it OK for my teen to go on a diet?
The AAP advises discouraging dieting, skipping meals and diet pills, and supporting healthy eating and activity habits that can last. Talk with the pediatrician before any change to how your teen eats.
How can I help my child like their body?
Praise what their body can do, keep weight talk out of the house, including about yourself, and eat together often. The AAP's report names family meals and a positive body image among its recommendations.
Do It in Buhata
Meals
Plan the week's family dinners in Meals in Buhata, so eating together is on the schedule rather than left to chance.
Open BuhataRelated Terms and Categories
- Self-esteem
How a person feels about themselves and what they can do. In a child, healthy self-esteem shows as feeling liked, accepted and able to try again after a mistake.
- Puberty
The years when a child's body matures into an adult's, usually starting between about 8 and 13 in girls and 9 and 14 in boys, per Cleveland Clinic.
- Tween
A child in the years just before becoming a teenager, roughly the late elementary and middle school years. Another word for preteen.
- Descriptive praise
Praise that names exactly what the child did well, such as "You put every block back in the bin," in place of a general "Good job."
- Emotional eating
Eating in response to feelings like stress, worry or tiredness rather than physical hunger, often quickly and often more than you meant to.
- Family media plan
A written set of family rules about screens and media, such as screen-free times and places, that each household makes to fit its own routines and values.
Sources
PubMed Central, "Parent to Child Intergenerational Transmission of Direct and Indirect Weight and Shape Communication"; American Academy of Pediatrics, "Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders in Adolescents" (Pediatrics, 2016); American Academy of Pediatrics, "Identification and Management of Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents" (Pediatrics, 2021); HealthyChildren.org (AAP), "Identifying and Treating Eating Disorders"
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12394254
- publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/138/3/e20161649/52684/Preventing-Obesity-and-Eating-Disorders-in
- publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/147/1/e2020040279/33504/Identification-and-Management-of-Eating-Disorders
- www.healthychildren.org/English/news/Pages/Identifying-and-Treating-Eating-Disorders.aspx
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