Recently, influencer Virginia Fonseca shared the story of her 3-year-old daughter Maria Flor’s therapy session in a cosmetics sales livestream: “We asked her how she was feeling. The answer was: I ate too much and I have a round stomach,” she said.
The video went viral on social media and generated identification. Certain profiles problematize the violation of the secrecy of the psychotherapy session and the trivialization of signs evoking image disorders in childhood.
According to Ambulim’s volunteer psychiatrist, Ana Clara Floresi, a child exposed to speeches reinforcing aesthetic pressure, at home or on social networks, is vulnerable to mental illness. “Eating disorders are multifactorial, but it is not innate for such a young child to judge their body as inadequate, it reflects what they hear around them,” he explains.
Exposure in early childhood impacts self-perception and distances the value of the body from what is fundamental, its functionality, explains the expert.
Dialogue must be done with adults, from whom children learn their behaviors, warns nutritionist Janaína Farias, specialist in eating disorders. In childhood, it’s normal to compare aspects of the body, like hair and finger shapes, but comments focused on beauty standards can lead children to hypervigilance and self-judgments. She also warns that you should be careful and not devalue yourself in front of children, but seek psychological help to deal with your own problems.
In this sense, with the aim of educating caregivers of children, the psychiatrist Ana Clara launched the children’s book “Many Belezas”, in collaboration with Daiana Garbin. The material addresses the diversity of bodies in a playful way and offers an intervention for those responsible, with instructions and a booklet developed on a psychiatric basis on how to manage body image, self-esteem and the fight against harassment.
Rodrigo Nejm, digital education specialist at Instituto Alana, also calls for caution when exposing children online. He emphasizes that they do not have the maturity to deal with the possible effects that repercussions can cause, such as comparisons and the harassment itself.
For nutritionist Maria Luiza Petty, keeping children and adolescents away from vehicles promoting beauty models is also essential to mitigate the harmful effects of thinness culture.
Petty, an eating disorder doctor at Ambulim, warns that exclusion of foods, reduction of quantities, avoidance of recipes in social situations, such as parties, as well as increased consumption of salads, vegetables and fruits, can be the result of the pathological desire to lose weight and should raise a red flag to those responsible.
She highlights the importance of fighting nutritional terrorism. “The ideal is to seek open communication with children and, if necessary, seek help from professionals who specialize in eating disorders.” “Children don’t go on a diet,” Janaína emphasizes.
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