Principal's Reflection
Last week we celebrated International Women's Day. A chance for all of us to reflect on the incredible role women play in families and society. I read a great article in the local paper by former Shalom Board Chair & parent, Tanya O’Shea. She highlighted some really important things to reflect upon.Our young people are stuck in an epidemic of body hate. As women – mothers, teachers, sisters, aunts – we hold great power when it comes to influencing how our girls and younger women see themselves.
Our world is superficial and full of messages about how we ‘should’ look, and this is affecting our children in greater numbers than ever before. Unrealistic and narrow beauty standards and suggestions that how you look is linked to your worth are incredibly harmful to young people’s self-esteem. We must help them to navigate this, and to find self-worth beyond appearance.
In March 2022, Dove released their report on the Dove Self Esteem Project, and the results were shocking. They found that:
• 1 in 2 girls say that idealised beauty content on social media is damaging to their self esteem
• 80% of girls compare themselves to the way others look on social media
• 8 out of 10 girls are so concerned with how they look that they opt out of important activities such as swimming, sports, going to the doctor and even speaking up with an opinion
• 7 out of 10 girls admit to putting themselves at risk by not eating or not visiting the doctor when they don’t feel good about how they look
• 25% of girls think they don’t look good enough without photo editing
While those statistics are scary, it’s not all doom and gloom! The report also highlighted the fact that 7 in 10 girls felt better for unfollowing idealised beauty content, and 80% of girls would like for their parents to talk to them about idealised beauty content.
Taryn Brumfitt was recently named as this year’s Australian of the Year for her work in the body image space. She says there is so much we can do to positively influence the young people in our lives and how they feel about themselves. She wants parents and those with influence over young people to recognise that kids hear and see everything, and in our homes we need to promote a safe space for them to flourish.
Our children look up to us. It is our job to model positive behaviour when it comes to the relationship we have with our bodies.
I strongly encourage you to think about how you talk about your own body in front of your children or other young people you have influence over. Try shifting your focus to the positive things your body can do and how you feel rather than focusing on how it looks, especially when it comes to your perceived flaws. Do you see exercise as a punishment or is moving your body joyfully your focus? Do you view food as an enemy rather than a way to nourish body? Are you openly critical when referring to certain parts of your body?Body Image Movement and the Dove Self Esteem Project both have some great resources that can help you to discuss body image with young people, and it’s an important conversation to have.
As Taryn says, we need to be teaching our children to have a values system that is built on who they are and what they do, and that has nothing to do with what they look like. Embrace your uniqueness, embrace the individuality that you bring.
Shalom Open Day is on this Wednesday 15 March. The day will commence at 9.15am in the Sports Centre. This is a great opportunity for families to see Shalom in action on a normal day. Please let friends and family know who might be interested in enrolling their child at Shalom.
St Patrick and St Joseph – two of my favourite Saints! We celebrate St Patrick on Friday 17 March and St Joseph on Sunday 19 March. Two really good men who stood up to a challenge when they had to. We wish well the school communities of St Patrick’s Bundaberg and St Joseph’s Bundaberg and St Joseph’s Childers in the coming week.
Mr Dan McMahon
Principal
mcmahond@shalomcollege.com