Boosting girls' self-esteem

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. -- Sandra Susan Friedman is on a crusade to get girls physically fit as a way to solidify their self-esteem.

"It's not a big part of feminine culture yet," she said of exercise. "We need to make it part of feminine culture.

"The guys are out there playing pick-up basketball and the girls, well, they're in the mall." Friedman, a Vancouver therapist who spent years counselling girls with eating disorders, is the author of a new book, Body Thieves: Help Girls Reclaim Their Natural Bodies and Become Physically Active (Salal Books). She's concerned about the way North American culture has demonized fat.

"You must be thin with boobs," she said. "All the girls from the time of puberty, which we should be celebrating, say, 'I'm so fat.' I get 10- and 11-year-olds asking in fear about gaining weight through puberty.

"We have to take the focus off body image and thinness and help girls define themselves other than through how they look."

Teenage girls may be preoccupied with being thin, but Niagara Region's Public Health Department and local physical education teachers are working toward helping girls replace that focus with a positive sense of self and a healthy attitude toward fitness.

"At the health department, we've never been much on talking about losing weight," said public health nurse Jennifer Mitton. "Our focus is on healthy lifestyles and that includes physical activity.

"When I talk about body image, I talk about the unrealistic expectations we get from commercials and I talk to the girls about feeling good about themselves -- what they like about themselves."

Last year, Mitton worked with schools to offer the Glad to Be Me program, a seven-week self-esteem program which helps Grade 9 girls with issues of trust, communication, body image and assertiveness, taught largely through games and physical activity.

Danielle Dupuis and Erin Franklin, Grade 10 students at St. Francis Secondary School, are graduates of the Glad to Be Me program. They're eager to talk up the benefits of the class.

They were particularly appreciative of the way the class focused on their positives, rather than their faults. In other words, they thrived on the self-confidence the sessions fostered.

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"People weren't focusing on how someone looked, they focused on the person."

Danielle agreed.

"It helped you look more inside people and see the real them. Now, I think about it more before I judge people.

"Everyone has high points. It taught us to focus on those."

Peggy Sheahan, a physical education teacher at St. Francis Secondary School, builds on the foundation laid by the Glad to Be Me program to promote the idea that physical activity and confidence go hand-in-hand.

"When we start to teach them the relationship between physical activity and health, they look at you like you're crazy," she said, noting that teens just don't relate to discussions of heart disease. "We try to take it from the approach that if you get physically active and get in shape, you feel better and look better. I think it works."

Friedman applauds such an approach.

"When girls are active in a low-pressure way, it's a good way to connect to their bodies," she said. "When they feel strength in their bodies and muscles, they're not as likely to judge themselves as fat."

She is a strong advocate of separating physical activity from weight loss.

"We need programs to involve girls of all shapes and sizes in physical activity to feel fit, connected to their bodies and to enjoy movement," she said. "Weight loss should not be part of the equation. I firmly believe until fat is neutralized and is just another three-letter word, eating disorders and childhood obesity will continue to climb.

"When you start the symptom of yo-yo dieting, you lose weight, then gain it back plus more. It puts you at risk for cardiovascular disease and the goodies that come along with that."

Sheahan lives the philosophy of fitness and tries to promote its value to students. Since all high school students must take physical education in Grade 9 or Grade 10, there's a chance for her and colleague Sheila Fleming to reach every girl who walks through the door of St. Francis.

Every class begins with 25 minutes of warm-ups -- strengthening and toning exercises such as sit-ups and push-ups that allow the girls to see a difference in their own fitness by the end of the semester.

"Even the worst person improves because she does it every day," said Sheahan.

"A lot of our girls want to appear beautiful and healthy, but they don't want to do the work to do it. If you want to reap the benefits, you have to put the time in. It's like math homework: 30 to 45 minutes every day or every other day."

She emphasizes the multiple benefits of fitness over and over again to her students.

"Not only do you look great and feel great, your academics change, your emotional stability goes up and you cope better with surprise situations," she said. "Everything important in your life changes when you become involved with your own physical fitness."

Friedman says teachers shouldn't have the sole responsibility for interesting girls in fitness.

"I encourage families to be active," she said. "You can learn how to do it in little ways.

"You can snack on exercise: take the stairs, do a mother-daughter walk, park the car and walk a little way. Find ways to build up physical activity. You don't have to enrol your daughter in an organized sport and get caught up in competition."

Body Thieves by Sandra Susan Friedman is available through Salal Books, www.salal.com, 604-689-8399.

St. Catharines Standard