In today’s media-driven world, children are constantly exposed to unrealistic body ideals and confusing messages about food and appearance. These harmful narratives can start shaping their body image at a surprisingly early age. In this blog, manager of Butterfly Body Bright, Dr Stephanie Damiano, highlights how harmful messages can slip into the media children encounter daily and what you can do in the classroom and at home to support children to be resilient.

29 OCT 2024

By integrating practices of body appreciation and gratitude into your classroom, using positive language, and creating an environment that celebrates diversity, you can help your students develop a healthier, more positive relationship with their bodies. In this blog, Butterfly's Education Manager, Helen Bird, shares tips and practical suggestions to make it easier.

2 SEPT 2024

Educators play a pivotal role in shaping students' perceptions and attitudes towards physical activity. But it can be difficult to know how to communicate this without doing harm – with the world we live in, reinforcing weight stigma and diet culture can be real concerns when it comes to promoting a “healthy” relationship with exercise. In this blog post, Butterfly’s Education Manager, Helen Bird, discusses how educators can encourage young people to move more, in ways that are enjoyable and support their mental and physical health.

16 MAY 2024

It’s likely we’ve all heard someone ask a young boy, “show me your muscles”. But what impact can this have on our boys and should we really be concerned? In this blog, hear from Butterfly Body Bright’s Manager, Dr Stephanie Damiano, as she explores where boys are receiving messages about the importance of muscularity, the potential negative impact on their body image and behaviours, and what schools, youth professionals and families can do about it.

18 MAR 2024

The new school year can be a time filled with lots of exciting chatter. But it may also be a time when that chatter is about how much people have changed in their appearance. But we know that reducing the amount of appearance talk that children, young people and all those in the school community engage in helps to create a safe and inclusive environment for all people, in all bodies. In this blog, hear from Butterfly’s Manager of Education Services, Helen Bird, about why appearance talk is a problem and what schools can do about it.

13 FEB 2024

As an educator you may be one of the first to notice that a student is experiencing difficulties with their eating, weight or body image, or you may be alerted to this by other students. This blog explores how schools can support children and teens to develop a positive relationship with eating and when to be concerned.

24 OCT 2023

Despite children as young as 5 being diagnosed with eating disorders in Australia, Primary School professionals are less likely to receive eating-disorder-related training compared to secondary school professionals. This blog explores how body dissatisfaction is a significant issue for young people – and how our whole of primary school body image program, Butterfly Body Bright, addresses many of the barriers educators have identified as hindering them from incorporating prevention work within school settings.

9 MAR 2023

Body dissatisfaction in young people is on the rise, and Butterfly Education Services team is routinely alerted to concerning trends and practices occurring in schools.  Recently, an incident was brought to our attention where a 10-year-old child’s teacher brought a set of scales into the classroom. Butterfly Body Bright Manager, Dr Stephanie Damiano, shares what happened and how your school can be better informed.

14 NOV 2022

Appearance-related teasing/bullying can have a significant negative impact on a child’s body image and self-esteem. Butterfly Foundation’s National Manager of Prevention Services, Danni Rowlands provides lots of helpful tips for parents around navigating appearance-related teasing and bullying with their child, and what schools can do too.

12 APR 2022

This festive season, we’re encouraging everyone to share some ‘body brightness’ with the children in their lives. Butterfly Body Bright’s manager Dr. Stephanie Damiano has put together some tips for promoting positive body image and healthy behaviours in and around children during this time, so you can help your children thrive and feel BRIGHT in their bodies!

06 DEC 2021