Charity urges 'lessons in self-esteem' for young children

Published on Sunday 21 February 2010 22:03

CHILDREN as young as eight should be taught about self- esteem to help stop them devel-oping eating disorders, a charity said yesterday.

Youngsters need to learn emotional resilience and tactics for dealing with images of the "perfect body" in the media, accord-ing to Beat, formerly the Eating Disorders Association.

It suggests lessons on the issue should form part of personal, social and health education (PSHE) in schools.

The call is one of several commitments published in a new manifesto urging the next government to tackle eating disorders.

Emma Healey, Beat's director of operations, said: "We can't continue to wrap up our children in candyfloss. They pick many of our negative messages about size and body shape from our conversations, our magazines, our TV shows.

"Beat is calling for a curriculum that promotes positive self-esteem in young children and that helps them understand that we come in all shapes and sizes and success is not about how we look but who and what we do.

"If we can't promote positive self-esteem for children in primary school, how can we expect to create a generation of healthy and resilient young people?"

The manifesto comes as the charity releases a poll showing that eight out of ten people with an eating disorder have suffered discrimination, bullying or stigma at school or in the workplace after disclosure of the disorder.