Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Girl Guides Promote Self Esteem With New Badge


The Girl Guides of Canada is introducing a new badge on May 11th designed to promote positive body image. Girls aged five to 17 can earn the Love Yourself Challenge badge by completing three tasks that promote self-esteem, healthy eating and a positive body image.

The program was designed with the help of the National Eating Disorder Information Centre, and girls complete different activities to earn the badge, depending on their age.

I think it's cool that the Girl Guides are making an effort to tackle this important problem. Apparently, Girl Guides periodically surveys its membership and found they wanted to deal with things that are relevant to their lives, and body image is a big issue for young girls.

It's scary that girls as young as five can have body image issues, but children are very influenced by the environment around them. If Mom is always on a diet, obsessed with her weight, has low self-esteem and a negative body image, it's no surprise that her daughter will follow suit. We need to break the cycle and do all we can to promote positive body image and a healthy lifestyle for our young girls - kudos to Girl Guides for taking a step in the right direction and recognizing this issue.

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