Have you given much thought to how your body image – your thoughts
and feelings about your body – impacts your wider life? Or those around you?
The way we understand health is over simplistic. It is
holding us back from so much health potential. It’s time for a new level of
understanding around health.
Children as young as three-years-old are identifying with
diet culture and body shame. The children’s picture book Don’t Go Knocking at
the Circus Door and its extension activities gives us the tools to have
conversations around body image, the media, gender (un) roles, and self-belief.
Outcomes
To teach children that we cannot all have the same bodies,
just like any other species we come in all different sorts. This is normal. If
everyone ate the same things and did the same exercise we would still all be
different.
To be aware of and avoid appearance-based commentary in the
classroom
To be mindful in this respect of what kids say to each
other.
What we say to the kids
What we say about our own bodies
What we say about our own food, clothes, movement choices.
We don’t need to comment on other’s bodies.
To understand that people having different bodies is natural
and normal.
We don’t have to talk or comment on other people’s bodies or
body parts.
If people do comment on our bodies we have a choice of
whether to agree with them or not.
Questions to help discussion - What is a good body?
What did Steginoff mean when he said “You look nothing like
a circus star”?
What do the posters tell us? How do they help us talk about
the media and how bodies are used?
What do “stars” generally look like?
We can talk about the media being a form of “magic” or
“trickery”. It’s not that everyone can or should have a certain type of body,
it’s that only some types of bodies are chosen to be used in the media – it’s
false. Look around, at school, in the supermarket, at the swimming pool.
Different bodies are everywhere and that is normal and natural in the real
world.
Was Steginoff being kind? Was he being a bully? Is it right
to talk about how someone looks?
It’s not nice to talk about or notice is different about
people’s bodies. It might be really hard for them. It also might be really
boring to have to keep talking about it.
All bodies are great bodies. Our personal value is not in
our bodies.
What is it in? How we make people feel, our talents, our
behaviour and friendships, our style, our accomplishments, our personality, our
…
What is inclusion? Why is it important?
Who is the Strongest?
What else is happening on this page? What is the Clown Alley
Cleaner doing?
What is he feeling, thinking, doing? Why might he be doing
that? Does it have anything to do with Steginoff saying “Men are Strong”?
Are only men strong? What ways can we be strong without
being able to lift heavy things? E.g. standing up for a friend, being kind, not
giving up on something, or believing in yourself.
What is the Popcorn Popper’s reaction to being told she
doesn’t look like a circus star?
It turns out that The Clown Alley Cleaner is very talented
but why does nobody know?
Have you ever felt shy? Had to be brave? Is that normal?
Does the Clown Alley Cleaner think his skills are valuable?
Did anyone use unkind words or share ideas that weren’t true about bodies?
Don’t Go Knocking on the Circus Door shows us two people who
were brave and followed their passion and skills despite what people thought of
them.
Gender (un) Roles
It might also provide a good opportunity to talk about
gender roles, traditional ones and more modern ideas.
Are there some jobs only men can do?
What are they?
Are there some jobs only women can do?
Some people still have strong ideas about certain jobs being
for men and certain jobs for women but actually there aren’t many these days
that can’t be done by both. As people choose to follow their passion and show
others there’s little we can’t do if we want to.
