Your Body Is Never Bad: A book to help parents navigate body image struggles in children.

Your Body Is Never Bad: A book to help parents navigate body image struggles in children.

When a child has been teased for being in a larger body, it can be difficult for parents to know what to say. This book can serve as a starting point for parents who work from a non-diet mindset to hold the conversation about body image and how to cope with negative comments about food and body. Maya comes home from school feeling sad about her body after another kid called her fat. Her mom listens with compassion, then teaches her that all bodies are good bodies and that it’s what’s inside that matters. She also stresses how much Maya’s body does for her, and how important it is to love, respect, and fuel it. She points out how her own body is soft and curvy, and that she loves it too. This book also has advice for parents after the story, including ideas for how to respond in the moment, what NOT to say, games and mantras, and resources for further support and learning. In this book, your child will see characters of many races and body types, a same-sex couple, a disabled character in a wheelchair, a character with vitiligo, and a character with a prosthetic leg. Limitations of this book: The main character, Maya, is an able-bodied child, and her mother stresses the importance of all the things she can do with her body. The mother also references how her body gave her Maya, and how she shared her body with Maya once (through traditional pregnancy).