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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Empowering Girls: No Name Calling

This article was originally published on Body Impolitic.
P3234059.JPG

by Tracee Sioux

It's effective to make some rules when children are still very young to ensure a healthy self-image, including body image.

Most parents forbid name calling when it comes to siblings or friends.

It's appropriate to make the same rule for name calling against themselves.

I punish my children for saying "I'm stupid" and "My legs are fat" the same as I would punish them if they said, "You are stupid" or "Your legs are fat."

Children learn to respect, accept and appreciate their bodies and skills or they learn to self-deprecate.

Respect, acceptance and appreciation doesn't lead to anorexia, self-mutilation or other self-destructive behaviors.

Self-deprecation has been shown lead to self-destructive behavior, depression, low self-worth, drug use and suicide.

Children learn from a Do As I Do as opposed to Do As I Say. Obviously mothers (and fathers) will have to forgo self-deprecation as a form of humor or bonding with other women.

Naomi Wolf said, "The mother who radiates self-love and self-acceptance vaccinates her daughter against low self-esteem."

A woman can not stand in front of the mirror annihilating her body and her reflection and expect her children to have a positive self esteem. That's just not likely to happen.

My daughter holds me to this standard. I've spoken with her about my own accountability in this area. If I cut loose with an, "I am so stupid!" she will call me on it and has actually sent me to "time out."

I did go to time out, because I want her to know that what I did by calling myself a name was very, very wrong. If I refuse to live up to the standard I set for her then essentially, the message is that it's "not really that important."

When I read the statistics about teenage girls that declare that 13% of girls are depressed, 10 million women have an eating disorder, 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat, 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner.

All because girls never learned to be kind to oneself?

I know I must vigilantly teach my daughter how to take care of emotional self and accept and appreciate her body from a very early age.

More on Body Image at Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Self-Loathing Sin Bank

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's so great that you went to time-out.

Anonymous said...

Please don't make us look at this photo anymore.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

You are free to close your eyes.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

Dear Anonymous,

No one is more sick, more aware, or more embarrassed by my lack of a decent camera or better photography than I.

You can only imagine my humiliation when I stood next to every major newspaper in the state and CNN with my cell phone clicking photos of Chelsea Clinton at the Texas Dem Con.

Be patient please. A new camera is on "the list."

I'll be forwarding your comment to my husband to see if you and I can get it moved closer to the top.

Jeanne said...

Great post. I've never called myself stupid in front of my daughter but I have slipped and uttered the word stupid on occasion when I was upset. In our house, we generally don't use the word stupid for anything... even objects. So on the rare occasion when I slip and say 'stupid", my daughter says, "Mom! You said the S word"! Whenever she catches me using words like "stupid", I'm glad she does. It makes me more conscious of what I'm saying. She hasn't sent me to time out yet but I certainly wouldn't put it past her. :) Seriously, though... she makes her strong disapproval of me daring to use the word "stupid" abundantly clear.

Anonymous said...

This is really good. I like this Empowering Girls stuff. AE is bad at beating herself up sometimes. I may try this.

Anonymous said...

I have given myself punishment a few times too, for saying naughty words, like crap, and pissed, opps there I go again, back to time-out.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

If AE has a bad habit try the Sin Bank idea Gerald.

Make her deposit a quarter every time she puts herself, brain or body, down. It will draw attention to it and help her change the habit.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Empowering Girls: No Name Calling

This article was originally published on Body Impolitic.
P3234059.JPG

by Tracee Sioux

It's effective to make some rules when children are still very young to ensure a healthy self-image, including body image.

Most parents forbid name calling when it comes to siblings or friends.

It's appropriate to make the same rule for name calling against themselves.

I punish my children for saying "I'm stupid" and "My legs are fat" the same as I would punish them if they said, "You are stupid" or "Your legs are fat."

Children learn to respect, accept and appreciate their bodies and skills or they learn to self-deprecate.

Respect, acceptance and appreciation doesn't lead to anorexia, self-mutilation or other self-destructive behaviors.

Self-deprecation has been shown lead to self-destructive behavior, depression, low self-worth, drug use and suicide.

Children learn from a Do As I Do as opposed to Do As I Say. Obviously mothers (and fathers) will have to forgo self-deprecation as a form of humor or bonding with other women.

Naomi Wolf said, "The mother who radiates self-love and self-acceptance vaccinates her daughter against low self-esteem."

A woman can not stand in front of the mirror annihilating her body and her reflection and expect her children to have a positive self esteem. That's just not likely to happen.

My daughter holds me to this standard. I've spoken with her about my own accountability in this area. If I cut loose with an, "I am so stupid!" she will call me on it and has actually sent me to "time out."

I did go to time out, because I want her to know that what I did by calling myself a name was very, very wrong. If I refuse to live up to the standard I set for her then essentially, the message is that it's "not really that important."

When I read the statistics about teenage girls that declare that 13% of girls are depressed, 10 million women have an eating disorder, 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat, 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner.

All because girls never learned to be kind to oneself?

I know I must vigilantly teach my daughter how to take care of emotional self and accept and appreciate her body from a very early age.

More on Body Image at Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Self-Loathing Sin Bank

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it's so great that you went to time-out.

Anonymous said...

Please don't make us look at this photo anymore.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

You are free to close your eyes.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

Dear Anonymous,

No one is more sick, more aware, or more embarrassed by my lack of a decent camera or better photography than I.

You can only imagine my humiliation when I stood next to every major newspaper in the state and CNN with my cell phone clicking photos of Chelsea Clinton at the Texas Dem Con.

Be patient please. A new camera is on "the list."

I'll be forwarding your comment to my husband to see if you and I can get it moved closer to the top.

Jeanne said...

Great post. I've never called myself stupid in front of my daughter but I have slipped and uttered the word stupid on occasion when I was upset. In our house, we generally don't use the word stupid for anything... even objects. So on the rare occasion when I slip and say 'stupid", my daughter says, "Mom! You said the S word"! Whenever she catches me using words like "stupid", I'm glad she does. It makes me more conscious of what I'm saying. She hasn't sent me to time out yet but I certainly wouldn't put it past her. :) Seriously, though... she makes her strong disapproval of me daring to use the word "stupid" abundantly clear.

Anonymous said...

This is really good. I like this Empowering Girls stuff. AE is bad at beating herself up sometimes. I may try this.

Anonymous said...

I have given myself punishment a few times too, for saying naughty words, like crap, and pissed, opps there I go again, back to time-out.

Tracee Sioux, Sioux Ink: Soul Purpose Publishing said...

If AE has a bad habit try the Sin Bank idea Gerald.

Make her deposit a quarter every time she puts herself, brain or body, down. It will draw attention to it and help her change the habit.