Parents – Ask Me Anything about your teens’ body image

Helen Bird: [00:00:00] Sometimes they’re just having a bad body image moment, day, week. And because body image is one of those things that’s never static, it’s constantly changing. Sometimes we just need to, acknowledge and validate. Self compassion is a really good strategy to use to help our young people with those kind of bad body image moments.

Sam Ikin: A staggering 95 percent of young Australians aged between 12 and 18 are experiencing some level of body image concern. And more than half are simply not happy with how their body looks. That’s according to Butterfly’s BodyKind Youth Survey. With body dissatisfaction playing such a big role in the development of eating disorders, it’s not really surprising that this report comes on the heels of Butterfly’s Paying the Price study, which found 27 percent of people experiencing an eating disorder are under the age of 19. That’s a 12 percent increase since 2012. These studies point [00:01:00] to a huge and growing problem. But how can parents and carers reduce the risk to the children that they love? Our guest for this episode is somebody who really can help.

Helen Bird: So I’m Helen Bird and I’m manager of education services here at Butterfly Foundation.
So I look after all the work that we do out in the community, with schools, with professionals. and with parents.

Sam Ikin: And you also manage the Bodykind Youth Survey, which is a massive job. So you really are the perfect person to pitch these questions to, Helen. So the first question is from Eliza, who asks, how can I help a young child who already recognizes that they’re in a larger body compared to their peers to have a positive body image leading into their teenage years?

Helen Bird: Yeah, so it’s really great that the parent recognizes the importance of laying those really strong foundations in the early years. Because, of course, in the teen and tween years those developmental changes during adolescence are really a [00:02:00] risk factor for body dissatisfaction. And we know that children who see their body or perceive their body to be larger than others, or larger than they want them to be, are more likely to experience body image concerns. So it’s good that this parent’s tuning in and is alert. And it’s just unfortunate because we live in a society where body size does seem to matter. And we certainly want to change that here at Butterfly. So we know that young people are picking up very strong societal messages from a very young age in their media, in their books, in their toys that they’re playing with, and to some extent our home environments and school environments. And that diet culture noise in our society is linking our appearance and our weight to our health and our worth. And that is being picked up from a very young age. And parents and children have this, inherent fear of gaining weight or a fear of fatness. And of course, for a [00:03:00] primary age child, in terms of their weight, the only direction is up.

Sam Ikin: Just following up on this question, if you don’t mind. There’s a lot of parents who are worried that they’re not doing the right thing if they don’t talk to their kid about health and weight and, keeping fit and all of that. But when you look at that through the prism of the harm that you’re doing to your child Down the track, whether you think that the size that they are is what they should be or not, you’re setting themselves up for something that could be much worse. Am I on the right track here?

Helen Bird: Yes, absolutely. I think one of the best things that we can do as parents is to be totally accepting of our child’s body and to not suggest that there’s anything wrong with them or that they should change their body in some way. Because if you’re accepting of their body, then it’s far more likely that they’re going to be accepting too. And that’s really what we’re trying to develop in these early years, is to accept and respect and [00:04:00] appreciate the body that we have. And to give really young children, and all children really, that idea that our bodies are supposed to be different, that we’re not all supposed to look the same, and gosh, if we did, how boring the world would be. And the, just like dogs are different sizes, humans are different sizes. Some of us are tall, some of us are shorter, some of us are bigger, some of us are smaller, and that’s okay. So with those young children, that idea of, celebrating ourselves as being unique and special. just the way we are. So that’s what I would be encouraging this parent to be doing.

Sam Ikin: Should parents be looking at size as a value neutral kind of descriptor?

Helen Bird: Absolutely. So we don’t want to be assigning any value to our, to bodies or implying that a certain body shape is more worthy or more acceptable in society. The reality is that we know that there is a lot of weight stigma. And that people in larger bodies are assigned negative [00:05:00] stereotypes. So we want to be challenging that in our environment, but we don’t want to be giving that message to our young people that they need to change their bodies in some way. And of course these primary age child that we’re, young child that we’re talking about, is probably be going to be going through puberty soon.
So we really want to help the parent understand that, as a result of puberty, there’s going to be weight gain. Yeah. It’s natural and necessary part of pubertal development, particularly in our girls. Without it, menstruation can’t occur. We need to accept and respect that our bodies are going to do what they’re supposed to do. And that our weight is going to be determined by many factors. Significantly our genetics. And actually that it’s not necessarily, we don’t need to be focusing on weight or be concerned about weight. What we need to focus on is those health promoting behaviors. So in ensuring that our children are eating nutritious food, that they are moving regularly and that they’re getting enough [00:06:00] sleep, that they’re practicing self care strategies. That they are, have positive coping mechanisms, that’s more important than focusing on weight per se. Because it’s those things that make us healthy, not necessarily our weight.

Sam Ikin: Yeah. Wow. And thanks for that question, Eliza. I didn’t say who had asked that. That was Eliza. And that was a great way to start off. Next question is from Melissa. How can I promote a positive, healthy relationship with eating, for example, eating the recommended amounts of meat, vegetables, fruits, et cetera, for my teen’s growing body without doing harm to their growing body or mental health?

Helen Bird: That’s a really common question that we hear a lot because many parents I’m worried that their child isn’t either getting the right nutrition and that’s because we have to relinquish a lot of control over in the teenage years. So our teenagers are eating a lot more outside the home. They’re eating, it’s being influenced by their peers and their friendship groups. Their [00:07:00] appetite’s changing massively, they’re eating at odd times of the day, they’re not necessarily eating in those kind of regular family mealtime slots. I know my son would be very hungry when he came home from school and then want to eat, at nine, ten o’clock at night or something, really weird eating patterns. And I think with Melissa, focusing on those recommended amounts, I think we need to remember or hold onto this idea. That the time span our body needs for it to receive the nutrition it needs from the food is actually weeks to months rather than on a daily basis. So if you can take, consider your teen’s food intake across a number of weeks rather than daily, then that helps you to relax as a parent. And our body is incredibly good at taking what it needs from the food.

Sam Ikin: Yeah.

Helen Bird: And I think the other thing with teenagers, our goal as a parent is to grow. Develop independent young adults. And I think this extends to their eating as well. So we need to let go a little bit and help them build [00:08:00] some trust in their body so that they start to eat more intuitively, which is part of that healthy relationship with eating more intuitively, tuning into their hunger and their fullness cues.
And, recognizing what their body reads right now in terms of its energy requirements, its nutrition, what it needs because it needs something tasty or satisfying or comforting or they need to be able to eat with friends, whatever it is to support their mind and their mood. So in dietetics, we have this model, the that’s definitely used with younger children, the idea of the parent provides and the child decides. And that applies equally to teenagers. So our job as a parent really is to try and get, it, certainly we can control what’s in our home. So it’s about trying to get the best food that we can afford available in our pantries for our young people to access in line with that changing appetite and hunger and fullness [00:09:00] cues, like ready, like things that could be readily put together in easy, tasty meals and let our teenagers decide.
Give them some autonomy over that.

Sam Ikin: So I think that’s a question a lot of parents struggle with. Oh, this next one. Oh, sorry.
Helen Bird: Oh, sorry. Just on that, just one last point, and I think this is important for parents, is that, there is, a teenager’s body is growing massively, and their energy needs and energy requirements are really high, but we probably don’t really appreciate that as adults. We forget. And so there’s room for lots of food, and there’s room for that high sugar, high salt, high fat foods. There’s room for those as part of a balanced diet. And I think the minute we start restricting or demonizing those foods or telling our teens that they can’t have them, we automatically raise their value in their minds and that they start to crave them more. So again, trying to be relaxed around some of that high, high energy high fat foods that are really. A teenager’s body does often crave. [00:10:00]

Sam Ikin: This next question is something that I’ve been thinking a lot about actually. And I think a lot of parents do. This is a really important one from Julie. Julie asks, how much could a parent’s body image issues impact on their children?

Helen Bird: The good news is we know that parents have a, can have a really positive influence on body image, but we do know that there are lots of parents out there who are. worried that they may be passing on their own body image issues or insecurities onto their children. They want to break that cycle. And that’s really commendable. And of course, as adults, we are living in this crazy diet culture world too. And the attitudes and beliefs that we have about health and food and weights. have been influenced by, multiple things ourselves. The experiences that we’ve had in our life, the homes that we grew up in, our culture, our religious beliefs, all sorts of things. And, that pervasive diet culture messaging.

Sam Ikin: Yeah.

Helen Bird: Children, young people are all seeing, all [00:11:00] hearing. So we really need to try and do that fake it till we make it approach. So do our very best. Very best to try and not vocalize our body image concerns directly in front of our children. Really trying our best not to talk about dieting or referring to foods with, moral judgment or moral value as good or bad. And just trying to make sure that we support a positive relationship with eating in our young children. And if we want our children to have a better relationship with their bodies then we probably need to think about ways in which we can support our own relationship. And if you’re having a hard time, as I’m sure lots of us out there are, many of us out there are, you are definitely not alone. This is something that lots of people do struggle with and people like Butterfly Foundation are here to support you on that. Working to heal your own relationship with your body is not only good for yourself, but it’s good for your family, it’s good for your [00:12:00] colleagues, it’s good for the people around you. Please don’t worry that you can’t be a positive influence on your child just because you are struggling with your own issues. But be very careful about maybe what you share in front of them, particularly when they’re younger.

Sam Ikin: Probably a good time to throw out the helpline as well. If you are struggling, we’ll give you more details at the end, but the helpline is 1 800 ED HOPE, H O P E. So don’t be afraid to call, they’ve got some of the best people. You may well speak to someone just like Helen. So this next question follows on that. How do you have a conversation with a teenager about their own body image concerns?

Helen Bird: It’s not clear from the caller or the person that asked the question whether it was their child coming to them with body image concerns or that they’ve just noticed them themselves. And it, it’s definitely not fun as a parent to see your young person struggling with their body image. And particularly if it’s something that you’ve gone through yourself, [00:13:00] so you know, your reaction might be quite a strong one. I think the thing with approaching body image conversations with young people is timing is key.
If you’re not calm and relaxed they’re not likely to be calm and relaxed. So you really need to pick your moment. Find a time perhaps when you can have that kind of parallel conversation. When you’re driving along in the car or, maybe preparing food together or you’re sat watching TV or something pops up on their social media or your social media that is a kind of good conversation starter. We always want to approach these conversations with that kind of compassionate, nonjudgmental voice and say, Oh, I’m really sorry that you’re feeling like that. It’s really not comfortable. It’s not nice when we’re not feeling comfortable in our body and just let them, focus on their feelings and their thoughts. Try and not talk too much, let them do the talking. You are the listener. Yeah.

Sam Ikin: Yeah.

Helen Bird: And sometimes they’re just having a bad body image [00:14:00] moment, day, week. And because body image is one of those things that’s never static, it’s constantly changing. Sometimes we just need to, acknowledge and validate. But if there’s, if it’s something that you’re seeing more regularly, and it’s, coupled with other, maybe concerning behaviors, then it is something that we really need to address in the moment. Self compassion is a really good strategy to use to help our young people With those kind of bad body image moments, and that’s not going to solve all their body image concerns, but it’s certainly going to help them feel okay in that moment. So it might be, helping them to separate their thoughts from their true self. Acknowledging that, other people feel like this and you’re not alone and this is quite a common feeling. And, and then the really important part of that, that self compassion strategy is to talk to yourself as if you were talking to a friend. Because that really helps to minimize that really harsh critical overbearing voice that we sometimes get in those moments.

Sam Ikin: Yeah. [00:15:00]

Helen Bird: And we might not always get it right as a parent. You try and talk to teenagers and often it’s met with a bit of eye rolling or a bit of tufting. So if it’s not going well, keep trying again. And if you stuff it up and you say the wrong thing or you wish, you look back and think, Oh, I really didn’t do a great job then. That’s okay. That’s okay. Role model that to your child that you’ve made a mistake and say, I want to give this another go. So I think that’s a really good tip.

Sam Ikin: Love it. Great answer. Thank you very much for that. Difficult conversation to have with kids. And this is only just the start, right? If you’re a parent and you just start, there’s going to be a lot of difficult conversations. So I think applying a lot of those principles to every conversation you have is probably not a bad idea. How do we encourage teens? This is a question from Narelle. How do we encourage teens to eat? school. So many children are not eating at school and it’s become widely accepted. Is that true?

Helen Bird: Oh, it is. Unfortunately Sam, it is true. It’s something that we regularly hear from educators and parents to some degree. And it’s pretty common, [00:16:00] particularly for our girls, particularly around that year eight and nine mark. And, there’s nothing worse, really, as a parent, you’re thinking that your child’s gone the whole day without eating something, or you’ve, if you’ve got younger children, you’ve prepared this fantastic lunch box, and it comes back full, or it’s been thrown in the bin it’s really disconcerting. Certainly, that skipping meals, or, is something that we need to be aware of, because it is potentially a red flag. But for some, it might be something to do with the school environment. So it might be that there’s a culture of food and body shaming at school. That there’s a lot of commentary about what people are eating, how healthy it is, the size of the portion, the, the cultural aspects of their food choices, might not be enough time to eat at school. So I think as a parent, we can take a guess at what’s going on for our young people, why they might not be eating at school. But the most important thing is to have that curious conversation to try and find out [00:17:00] what’s going on. And remember, for neurodiverse teens, again, they have a different relationship potentially with connecting to their appetite, so it might be something that we need to support them around. And some very simple strategies that parents can do to combat that kind of not eating at school thing is, making sure they have a really good breakfast if you can. Yeah. And maybe a hot breakfast, a cooked breakfast. Yeah. I know that might not always be possible. Making sure there’s good afternoon tea available to them when they come in. So that they can catch up on their appetite when they get in, maybe providing some like this nutritious snacks to eat on the go in between recess on the way or to and from school. But if it is something that you are concerned about, definitely flag that with your school wellbeing team. Particularly if it’s something that’s occurring in friendship groups because we know that they can be this kind of like competitive behavior in some friendship groups and really schools should be trying to address that not only through their curriculum but [00:18:00] in through their kind of culture and environment within that they’re creating within the school.

Sam Ikin: Yeah. That’s great. Use those resources if they’re there. My kids are both neurodiverse and they both are taking ADHD medication as well, which like wipes out their appetite. So in the morning they wake up and I’ll try and feed them. I’ll wake up and just cook eggs and bacon, whatever it is. I can feed them something. That’s going to give them some nutrition. That’s going to sustain them through the day. Cause I know as soon as they take their tablets, they’re not going to want to eat until, later in the afternoon. Is that something that could be contributing to that as well?

Helen Bird: Absolutely. Absolutely. So we know that’s exactly right, that ADHD medications can affect appetite. And I think you’re doing the right thing there, Sam, by just making sure that you take the opportunity to provide the best, most nutritious, fulfilling, energy driven food that you can. In line with their [00:19:00] appetite. And sometimes reminding neurodiverse teens to check in or to to eat, you might have to regularly remind them of the importance of having something to eat.

Sam Ikin: Yeah. Great. Thank you. All right. Melissa asks, my 14 year old wasn’t sure how to call out fat shaming in her friendship group. What can she say or do?

Helen Bird: Round of applause for Melissa’s daughter for spotting that, cause there’s so much language. In our society, but particularly in team friendship groups, that’s really reinforcing those negative stereotypes. So good on her for recognizing it and recognizing that it makes her feel uncomfortable. And it’s really hard, I think, for teens to be part of the change in these types of conversations because it’s all about peer acceptance and fitting in. And of course, if you’re hearing your friends talking badly about other people’s bodies, you’re going to start worrying a little bit about what they might be saying about you behind your [00:20:00] back. So maybe Melissa can talk to her child about the best thing that she could do is maybe just walk away from those types of conversations. But if she’s being feeling really brave and they want to say something, then that’s great. So perhaps Melissa could help her teenager come up with a form of words that works for her and practice saying them out loud. Because if we practice something. We’re much more likely to be able to use them again in those difficult moments. So we practice, and it might be saying something like, This is really boring. Can we talk about something else? Or, I’m actually working really hard to be comfortable in my body, accepting of my body. So this is actually really triggering me. Can we stop? Or they can actually stand up for the person and the issue on the receiving end. So by saying something like, that’s not okay, we don’t talk about people’s bodies like that. And I really get that this is very hard for teenagers. And [00:21:00] if nothing else, they could maybe try and check in on that person who might have been at the receiving end of those negative comments, acknowledging that what their friends are saying is not okay, it’s not cool. And that, no one has the right to talk. unkindly or negatively about somebody else’s body. And if it’s persisting, maybe Melissa’s daughter could maybe try and reach out to the school wellbeing team or a school counsel and just let them know that it’s happening. And it doesn’t necessarily mean dobbing in their particular friends per se, but it could be just alluding to that this person’s on the end of the receiving end of a bit of a bit of negativity. And so that the school being team can, A, check in with that young person and check that they’re okay. And also maybe think about something, that they can do within the school environment to shut down that kind of body bullying, that appearance based talk. And really maybe flag to the whole school community again the the importance of a zero tolerance approach to appearance, teasing and [00:22:00] bullying, which should definitely be flagged within there.
in that bullying policy. And if it isn’t, then it really should be.

Sam Ikin: Great. I have two. That’s really good advice too, Helen. Thank you. I have the next two questions are really similar. They’re from Alison and Amy. So I think we’ll hit these both in the one. Answer, I think, but they go along the lines of my daughter is 12, has started a high performance pathway in her sport. How do I juggle the nutritional information that they’re giving her and my desire for her to remain positive about her body? She’s comparing her body to other young athletes. I want to enjoy her sport, but I’m worried.

Helen Bird: What do we do? So we we definitely know that some sports have a higher risk of body dissatisfaction, particularly those sports that focus on aesthetics or, have weight class requirements, those kinds of things. And we know that children that are maybe aspiring athletes can be really highly competitive, very driven, [00:23:00] perfect, exhibit those perfectionistic tendencies, which place them a greater risk. I think the first and foremost thing is to make sure that your 12 year old is enjoying their sport because ultimately that has to be about enjoyment. And then because we’re talking about a 12 year old here, we really have to make sure that they’re we’re acknowledging that their body is probably going through or about to go through puberty. And so we need to make sure that the child is supported and advice and support around their changing body. And because she’s 12, she’s in that prime age of comparison. The comparison tendencies really ramp up during that early adolescent period where we’re becoming more and more aware of societal ideals. We’re becoming aware of getting access to our social media and greater freedoms on social media. I think it’s really important. It’s important for the parent to be aware of the culture within that particular sport. So start talking to the coaches, trying to get some [00:24:00] advice from them about how they’re talking to their athlete about nutrition and body image. We know that some sports have gone through a bit of a revamp and are doing much better in this space and that they’ve learned that some of their past practices could have been could have been, better than they were. So there’s been big progress in a lot of sports, but it’s a really important to be across that information that your child is being given from the sporting club. And as with every parent, just keep role modeling that positive language around foods helping things, helping them to keep things in perspective, to see themselves as a whole person and have interests and hobbies and passions outside of their sport.

Sam Ikin: Yeah, that’s great. Good answer. And I know I went through a lot of stuff like that at school with being in a high performance sport and it depends what school you go to as well. I think a lot of schools tend to take sport really seriously. So that’s something that a lot of parents may well find themselves having to deal with. Yeah. Very good. All [00:25:00] right. The next question. This is from Anonymous. I promise I haven’t just made it up. This is from an actual person, but they’d rather keep the, keep their name out of it. My 17 year old has started eating less and has lost weight and is very thin. How do I bring up my concerns?

Helen Bird: Yeah. So again, good on this parent for, recognizing and that gut feeling that when you know that something’s just not right. Thanks. And I suppose for any parent out there, I would just say the same thing, your child best if you’re not, trust your instincts and it’s much better to do something sooner rather than later. So definitely in this situation, it’s really important that they bring up their concerns. But there’s definitely better ways of doing that than others, but it’s important that you do it. So first off, I would really encourage this parent to find out a little bit more. About eating disorders, and that could be looking on the Butterfly website, maybe ring in our helpline and getting some advice around [00:26:00] how to approach this conversation. There’s resources on our BodyKindFamilies website web portal about what to do if you’re concerned with a young person and that steps you through the process. Bit like with body image concerns find a good time to talk, preferably away from family meal times. Some, have that conversation in private.
And just start with that, I notice, I, I notice you don’t seem yourself recently or you seem a little bit preoccupied. Is there something that you want to tell me a little bit more about? So just, again, lean in with compassion and curiosity. And talk about the things that you’ve noticed in terms of their feelings and their moods. So try not to focus too much on the weight or the eating behaviours because that’s It’s likely to be met with a little bit of defensiveness or anger and resistance. And you remember that those behaviors that you’re seeing are the tip of the iceberg. And it’s what’s going underneath that we really need to try and find out a little bit more [00:27:00] about. It’s likely to go one of two ways. Your teen is either going to be grateful that someone’s noticed and ask them how they’re feeling and they might open up to you and that’s wonderful and you can tell thank them for sharing and kind of reflect back what you’ve understood about what they’ve shared and talk about next steps. And often, sometimes it’s going to be met with a bit of resistance or anger and denial, and that’s really normal too. So if those conversations don’t go well don’t persist, but definitely circle back and have that conversation again and let them know that you think that there’s a problem. Really that needs professional help that sits outside of your capacity to help as a parent. You’ll support them in that journey, but you need to access some extra help. And then speak with a health professional. So your first point of call might be your GP. And hopefully you’ve got a GP. Friendly eating disorder aware GP. And if you have a conversation, it doesn’t go well. Definitely try [00:28:00] somebody else. Butterfly is a helpline. And our website has that you can access a referral database through our helpline and through our website, who can point you in the direction of eating disorder, friendly GPs or psychologists, and never think that you’re being silly or that you’re going to get a reaction from somebody that you’re, you’re worrying unnecessarily. Have that conversation. If they put your mind at rest and it’s not an issue, then that’s a great, no harm done. But if you are concerned, you really should reach out for help. And I know it can sometimes be really hard to get a young person to want to come along to see a health professional. I would suggest that you don’t let that stop you from reaching out yourself so that you can have a conversation with the GP. you can let them know your concerns, maybe have that added to their health records so that as and when your teen goes maybe for another issue or is ready to talk, then the GP has a bit of background information and can build on that in a hopefully sensitive way.

Sam Ikin: Amazing. Thank you. [00:29:00] And look, I hope we’ve answered that question as best we could for that audience member. We really appreciate you being vulnerable and asking that question because that’s a tough one. Now, We know that in past body kind surveys, you have always dig up some more interesting information about the destructive influence of social media. Hopefully people are starting to work out how to get around that and how to curate that. your feeds and make things work a bit better. So maybe you could give us a bit of background in that in answering this next question, which is from Julie. What social media influences are there for teens who talk about positive body image and relationships with food? Which ones do we need to look out for?

Helen Bird: Oh, that’s a really great question. And it’s actually a very hard one to answer. And I’m actually a bit reluctant to specify a particular influencer per se, because what we’ve seen in the past is that somebody that might [00:30:00] be, famous person or influencer might come out as being really body positive hashtag. One day, and then the next day, go on a strict diet, or lose weight, or be on weight loss medication. It’s probably not a great idea to specify individual people. And we know when you look at social media and you look, you look at the hashtag body positivity, it’s been co opted now, it’s been a bit hijacked. And so you might look at those hashtags and think that body positivity is all about wearing a bikini or, You’ve been comfortable posing in a crop top and leggings. So I think a better strategy is really encouraging our young people or talking to our young people about how they can tune in to how content makes them feel. And be savvy to the kinds of people that they’re following. And really if the content is asking them to question their eating or exercise behavior. Or if it’s making them feel like they need to criticize, compare [00:31:00] themselves with other people or compete with other people, then that’s probably not going to lead to a super positive experience. And we can really encourage our teens to actually not follow appearance related content. Diversify their feeds as much as possible with content that, puppies, cats doing crazy things, whatever it is, or things that align with their values, their passions, their purpose, their hobbies, their interests. That’s a kind of better, possibly a better approach. And we can also help our young people, particularly our teens, Spot that diet culture messaging in disguise, because I think that’s the difficult thing within social media, that wellness, health and wellness is really been again co opted by diet culture. It’s actually giving our teens access to so much content that’s about weight loss, dieting, restriction. And it’s like this overwhelming abundance of information. So we can talk to them about words [00:32:00] that they can spot. So that clean eating, detox, reset wellness…

Sam Ikin: That, yeah, that word is always a red flag to me.

Helen Bird: Yes. Yes. But not maybe in a young person’s eyes. So again, looking to see whether any of that content is enforcing rigidity or sticking to rules or is about counting and metrics. All of those sorts of things are diet culture in disguise. And we recently had a webinar with a lovely dietician, non diet dietician called Meg McClintock. And she said that, one of the good strategies we can give to our young people is to ask three simple questions. Is this advice tailored to me? Do they know anything about me? Are they qualified to give advice? And even qualified people may not actually be giving good advice. Thanks.
Is this what they’re saying backed up by broad research? Not just one research paper, but is there broad research to support what they’re saying? [00:33:00] And if it was true what they’re saying, what would we be seeing in society? Yeah. So you can give your team that ability to critically evaluate the content and the messages they’re receiving. I think that’s a much better strategy than telling them to follow certain people or certain accounts. It’s got to be how it makes them feel, because if it’s not serving them well, then they can Mute, unfollow, say they’re not interested, reset their reset their caches, whatever it is, to have a, a more positive experience that they’re in control of.

Sam Ikin: Wow, Helen, you have just been so open with your advice and all of this has been so helpful for parents out there. It’s really difficult to navigate your uncharted waters. If only there was, if only you could, in particular, could go and write a user manual, that’d be great. But I think it’s a, I think it’s a, it’s amazing that we are able to have this level of understanding and that comes from these surveys that you do. So [00:34:00] tell us about the survey results. Where can we find out a little bit more if we want to see how teens in general are trending?

Helen Bird: So yes, our 2023 BodyKind Youth Survey results are available on Butterfly’s website. So butterfly. org. au forward slash. findings. And within those results page, there’s actually a little summary for parents. So it will give key stats for parents and some advice really about how they can address some of those key concerns that young people are telling us.

Sam Ikin: That’s great. And tell us about BodyKind Families. That’s another resource, which I think you are quite heavily involved in which is also up on the website.
Helen Bird: So BodyKind Families provides tip sheets, video content, family based activities, lots of resources for parents of teens to help them have conversations around body image. So if you just go to butterfly. org. au forward slash BodyKindFamilies. Just pop, pop in your email address and then you’ll be [00:35:00] sent access to all of those excellent resources that we add to year on year.

Sam Ikin: Yeah. Look, I’m really glad we had this conversation, Helen. Thank you so much for your time and your knowledge. Appreciate it very much.

Helen Bird: Thanks, Sam.

Sam Ikin: There are direct links to the Bodykind Youth Survey and Bodykind Families in the show description. You can also get there through butterfly. org. au and use the search function.
If you need support right now, the best place to start is Butterfly’s National Helpline on 1 800 334 673. That’s 1 800 ED HOPE. Butterfly Let’s Talk is produced for Butterfly Foundation by Ikin Media with the support of the wonderful Waratah Education Foundation. Our executive producer is Camilla Becket who does an amazing amount of work for this program and we truly appreciate the time Until next time, I’m Sam [00:36:00] Ikin.