New year, new me! How many times have you heard that from your friends, family or maybe when you're looking in the mirror? There's nothing wrong with using the new year as a launching pad to a new, healthier self but when it comes to getting healthy, changing habits or even losing a few kilos, there are a few things we adults forget to see and it's impacting our young children more than we realise.
Let's look at the healthy ways that we can talk about reinventing ourselves the right way. Remember, in your children's eyes, there's nothing wrong with you in the first place so we have to be careful or else our kids can suffer from a negative body image, body dissatisfaction, body image concerns, and mental health issues concerning one's own body and physical appearance such as eating disorders.
Promoting a positive body image is important to boost body confidence.
Common resolutions
Some of the most popular things to resolve in the new year are things that will make us healthier, save us some money or even see our daily lives become more organised. Things like:
- Quitting smoking
- Saving Money
- Losing Weight
- Exercising
- Learn a new skill
Of course, things like quitting smoking or vaping are something everyone can get behind and if anyone is battling this addiction, we wish you well. It can be a tough one to break but know, help is there.
Learning a new skill is also a fabulous idea – something fun, something productive or something totally practical that you might even be able to market one day. If you have a young child that could help you in some way, let them. After all, they say that kids don't need to be entertained, they love to feel involved.
And of course, we all want to be able to save a bit of cash, especially when the purse strings need to be pulled a little tighter with the high cost of living hitting homes throughout Australia. Thankfully, we have a resident expert in Ben Nash, founder of Pivot Wealth that we can tap into for this one.
What about health, fitness, and weight loss?
This is where things get a little tricky and talking about body image around our children or even with them if they're asking questions can be difficult. Choosing our words wisely and making sure they know what your motivations are is important. Careful language is very important to promote a healthy body image so we have come up with a few swaps for you that can help.
| Instead of saying | Try saying |
|---|---|
| I'm exercising to lose weight | I exercise because it feels good to be fit |
| I want to be thinner | I am working at getting stronger |
| I am having a lazy day | It's important for your body to rest too |
| Ugh, I can't be bothered running | I might take a walk instead of a run |
| I can't believe I just ate that ice-cream! | That treat was delicious. For tomorrow's treat, fruit! |
