By Mikayla van Loon
Over 100 young people and their parents travelled to Chirnside Park last week to attend a screening of ‘Embrace Kids’ and panel discussion around body image.
The event, co-hosted by ChildSafe Australia general manager Neil Milton and Yarra Ranges Council, explored topics of social media, body shaming and weight stigma in a safe and open conversation at Reading Cinemas.
Mr Milton said after stumbling on a clip of Taryn Brumfitt’s ‘Embrace Kids’ and showing it to his daughter who said “we need to see that” he began organising an event for more children to see the documentary film.
“It’s very, very powerful. Embrace Kids, it’s obviously about empowering young people around body image and being OK with who they are no matter what,” he said.
“I thought that could be a really good way of counteracting some bullying in the area…so I just felt like it was really important to get it out in the community.”
Wanting it to be more than a film screening, Mr Milton said the panel idea gave children, and parents, a way of opening the dialogue by asking questions of body positive ambassador Shauna Ryan and Yarra Ranges Body Image Group’s Louise Wigg.
“How many movies have you seen that you don’t remember? We wanted to make sure that we started a conversation that inspired them,” Mr Milton said.
“Kids asked questions like ‘what do I do if I’m being bullied?’ and Shauna Ryan was able to talk about changing the tape in your mind.
“We actually really need to actually change the tape and start speaking positively to ourselves so when people speak to us negatively about our bodies, or whatever it is, we don’t need to listen.”
With a main demographic of nine to 14 year olds, Mr Milton said it’s important to begin these discussions at a young age because of the rate of bullying at primary school and in early teenage years and particularly because these are formative years.
“If a 13 year old or a 10 year old or 12 year old is hearing these messages at a young age and their brain development hasn’t happened yet that can really influence them further,” he said.
Changing the perception of what body image means and how to be positive with the body you’ve been given was a powerful message Mr Milton and the other panellists wanted to get across.
“A lot of people think that [body image is] anorexia and bulimia, that you actually have to be skinny to be suffering but a lot of larger people suffer from the same thing and it’s not normally what’s on the outside.
“We wanted to really empower young people so they start to see themselves the way they should see themselves, that they’re beautiful and that they’re created the way they are and that’s really special.”
A big topic of discussion with the panel was advice on the use of social media and how to navigate the online world.
Working in the child safety space but also as a dad himself, Mr Milton said one of his main aims was to begin the conversation about mental health, body image, bullying and creating a safe environment for children to talk about these issues.
“From a child safety perspective, we work with organisations to prevent abuse of children…but we know that in order to keep children safe in organisations, we need to help parents to know how to keep their children safe.
“This movie is about supporting parents in how to have those really good conversations because the more children build resilience to all these comments, then they’re less likely to be putting themselves in a situation where they could be hurt when they’re teenagers.”
Creating space for children to feel comfortable in coming to their parents with problems or issues happening at school was an important message Mr Milton said he hoped parents took away from the event.
Parents and young people in the Healesville area will have the opportunity to watch the film on Sunday 23 October at the Memo starting at 1pm. It’s a free event supported by Yarra Ranges Council.
Audience members from all the film screenings are also invited to an online discussion with Embrace Kids co-author Dr Zali Yager and local social worker Bec Filiponi on Tuesday 25 October at 7pm.
Mr Milton said for parents wishing to continue the discussion around child safety, they are welcome to join the Facebook page ‘ChildSafe Australia – For Parents’.
