Jane Ogden on parenting
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 I'm a professor in health psychology and I've done much research over many years
00:04 looking at body image, particularly in young people.
00:06 When I had my own children, I was determined I would try and bring them up in a way
00:10 that they would realise there's much more to who they were than just how they looked.
00:14 So, as a mum, I tried really hard.
00:16 I was a good role model and I didn't talk about dieting or the way that I looked in a negative way.
00:21 I had no bathroom scales in the house
00:24 and I tried to use lots and lots of positive words about who they were.
00:27 They were clever, they were funny, they were kind, they were hard-working
00:30 and I didn't focus on how they looked.
00:32 Occasionally I'd say, "You look good in that."
00:34 But I tried to avoid, "You're beautiful, you're good-looking, you're pretty."
00:38 Looking back, I now wonder whether perhaps I avoided a bit too much
00:42 and maybe I should have told them that they were beautiful.
00:44 We live in a world where looks are really important
00:47 but we need to grow up knowing that looks aren't everything.
00:50 So what I would say is tell your children that they're good-looking and beautiful
00:54 but tell them that amidst everything else, all the other things they are,
00:57 other than just how they look.
00:59 (upbeat music)