Body Image In The Primary School

Children as young as eight are battling eating disorders and six year-old girls are complaining they look too fat. Three quarters of seven to eleven year olds would like to change something about their appearance. Now 'body image' has become such a big issue, a new book is calling for it to be tackled as early as primary school.

Nicky Hutchinson, behaviour expert and co-author of Body Image in the Primary School, says both teachers and parents have a vital part to play in helping children develop healthy attitudes towards how they look. Mums should avoid asking questions like: "Does my bum look big in this?" to focus on the positives of their own shape as well as those of their off spring. But there is, she says, also a need to introduce the subject in the classroom - with under 11s.

Research tells us that the roots of a poor body image start at primary school age. Children of seven and eight years old, both boys and girls, are spending an hour or more getting their appearance ready for school in the morning and girls of this age are are saying they want to be 'skinny' and 'hot'. Young children are even more susceptible than adults to the relentless media pressure in our society as they do not have the intellectual maturity to moderate and filter the messages they receive. This is becoming a universal concern in Britain and we have found that parents and teachers have been desperate for advice and guidance as they have been unsure how to deal with it.

-The average child watches between 20,000 and 40,000 adverts a year.

-Girls as young as six are cutting down on what they eat to stay thinner.

-Three quarters of ten and eleven year olds would like to change their appearance.

-Body image and its impact upon self-esteem has been recognised as an issue which affects increasingly younger children. Research in this area has traditionally focused on adolescents yet anxieties about appearance often develop at a much earlier age than this. Primary schools have a critical role in helping children to develop a healthy body image through positive intervention.

Nicky Hutchinson and Chris Calland both work as behaviour specialists and education consultants in and around Bristol. They are both teachers who have many years' experience at both primary and secondary level. They have created a curriculum for primary schools to address this very worrying issue and lots of tips, advice and guidance for parents, and are confident that building resilience and self esteem at this age will make a significant difference. Body Image in the Primary School offers step-by-step lessons for teachers to address this issue. It examines the continuous media and peer pressures that young children are exposed to and encourages children to recognise their own strengths and qualities and to become resilient members of society. The authors demonstrate a practical range of activities and projects for teachers to work with designed to make them confident in discussing body image in the classroom.


Nicky Hutchinson, behaviour expert and co-author of Body Image in the Primary School, says both teachers and parents have a vital part to play in helping children develop healthy attitudes towards how they look. Mums should avoid asking questions like: "Does my bum look big in this?" to focus on the positives of their own shape as well as those of their off spring. But there is, she says, also a need to introduce the subject in the classroom - with under 11s.

"Work in this area has traditionally focused on adolescents yet anxieties about appearance often develop at a much earlier age," says Nicky, who has researched and written the book with her colleague, Chris Calland.

"We had often worked in schools with children who have a poor body image and noted its effect on their health, self esteem and educational progress. We were particularly concerned that this was becoming an issue for children at a younger age than ever before."

Chris and Nicky are qualified teachers and independent educational consultants. Since 1997 they have also worked for the Behaviour Improvement team in Bristol specialising in children's social, emotional and behavioural development. They began looking seriously at ways of approaching the body image problem after an Ofsted survey of 150,000 children in 2008 found that by the age of 10 a third of girls and 22% of boys cited their bodies as their main source of worry. A 2010 survey of over 1000 girls by Girlguiding UK showed that nearly three quarters of 7 - 11 year olds would change something about their appearance and by the ages of 10 and 11, one in eight wanted to be thinner

"Children face exposure to the media on a far greater scale than ever before," says Nicky. "They watch up to 40,000 adverts every year.

"Although there are initiatives to address body image with adolescents, we were aware that there was very little available to support younger children,".

"Primary schools have a critical role in helping them develop a healthy body image through positive intervention."

The book includes a range of activities and projects for teachers to work with and is designed to build children's confidence in discussing body image in the classroom. As well as looking at outside pressures, it encourages them to recognise their own strengths and qualities to become resilient members of society. It also examines some do's and don'ts for parents and carers including urging children to challenge society's narrow 'beauty ideal'.

"When we watch television or look at magazines with our children we should encourage them to question the images they see," says Chris.

"We should reassure our children about their appearance and talk positively about them. It's important not to make negative comments about their weight or over-emphasise the importance of looks.

"We shouldn't make negative comments about other people's physical appearance or complain about 'fat' or ugly' parts of our body in their hearing. At this young age children's ideas about themselves, their bodies and their place in society are forming and developing. The lessons in the book focus on self esteem and aim to raise children's awareness of the pressures they are exposed to on a daily basis. They are encouraged to think about their qualities and skills, to recognise and celebrate the unique nature of human beings and ultimately to question how they see themselves and others and how that might be influenced by the world around them."

Body Image in The Primary School, is published by Routledge and is out now, price £18.99.