Teaching Body Positivity.
Since I was in third grade, I’ve wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. Teacher, at the time, seemed like an easy profession, but as I got older, I realized how complicated my career of choice was going to be.
Especially when it comes to body positivity and what society calls “health.”
When I was in kindergarten, I was teased for my weight. My teacher, who was a loving and kind woman and who I still see every now and then, loaned me a book called Don’t Call Me Fatso.
Basically, this picture book was about a girl who looked a lot like I did at the time: chubby, brown hair and eyes, and fairly lonesome. It emphasized that all the other kids brought healthy food for lunch while she ate cupcakes (you know, because she’s fat). She was teased, of course, and embarrassed when she had to be weighed in front of the class during the school check-up.
The book ended with her eating “better” and losing weight and making friends with the children who had tormented her earlier. There were no repercussions for the children who harassed her.
As a little girl, I loved this book. I was going to be that girl. I was going to make friends with the people who hurt me so badly because, after all, they were right, right? I was too fat and I deserved to be treated badly until I learned my lesson.
Those views have changed now. I’ve made a complete 180 in my thinking. I know now that those people who harass me and others for our bodies are wrong. But I didn’t believe that until high school.
Soon, I will be mentoring “at risk” kindergarten and first grade students. I had to fill out a questionnaire which asked a number of questions about my skills. One question was “Are you able to mentor children on the subject of personal health? (Hygiene, nutrition, weight management, etc.)” and I thought about this for a long while. Honestly? No. I am not able to mentor children on the subject of health. Why? Because I’m not going to say what they want me to say. I’m going to suggest what I think is healthiest. I’m going to share my own experience (in a way a child can understand, of course).
I’m worried, though. How do I help instill body positivity in a young child? How do I teach it in a classroom? I guess it’s a learning process for me, too.
Any suggestions? It takes a whole lot of groovy body-positivitities to raise a child, right?
Big Smiles!
fiercefatties
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Here’s another little secret about my past that I’m going to reveal to all you people. I was/am a teacher.
After college I took the NTE and taught for awhile before having a family and I will tell you that no manual or list of things to do will give you a better understanding of what kids need than just spending time with them.
I would NEVER preach to a kid about their health unless they were smacking their own head against a brick wall for fun. And even then I might just mention it in passing and distract them with something interesting instead.
Good luck mentoring these kids!!!
What a shitty book!
As far as whether you should say you can mentor children on health, I’d say hell yeah! We need teachers like you helping kids understand health better. Even if you’re teaching what they want you to teach (which, I would hope, is eat fresh foods and exercise), at least you could do it from the perspective that it’s for ALL children and not just the fat ones.
Peace,
Shannon
I’d say you’re the perfect teacher to mentor children on health! I have no idea how to teach in a classroom, I don’t even really know how to make someone want to learn something. The one thing I’d do for the kids?
Zero tolerance policy for bullying, no matter when. Recess or the classroom. Take away the stress of being afraid of being called names, even if it’s just in one class. I still remember the one teacher that actually enforced said policy in her class (by giving detentions, extra work, talking to the parents and generally creating a whole lot of work for herself) and me WANTING to go to school just because of her class (no name calling, and the class wasn’t too boring).
I don’t know if your school will support that, though, and you might catch a lot of flak for suggesting that the “fatsos” don’t need to change anything.