for the past week my daughter has been asking to go with me and my sister on our run. It’s a short relativly flat outing which I think she can handle. But I have some concerns
My daughter is nine, and I know that body image and health consciousness are important to her. This raises an inherantly complex issue. Of course I want to support a healthy and integrated lifestyle and her paticipation is integral to that. However, I also don’t want to promote what is a common and natural anxiety about health and fitness, especially in young girls. In other words, I want her to exercise becuase it feels good, not because she is concerned about not being good enough. I don’t think there is a simple solution here, and really her thoughts are probably no different than most adults. But isn’t that another rub? Why is she thinking like an adult at nine? Is my focus on fitness contrubuting to this thinking? Is it just a fact of our current cultural moment?
We went for a run, it was super fun to be out on the trail with her. I talked with her about athletics for their own sake. I talk about body image and insecurity. We played basketball and shot hoops. I hope I’m talking about the right things. I hope I’m doing the right things.
