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October 24, 2014 by Molly 20 Comments

Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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THANK YOU ❤️ I’ve felt a bit flat the last w

THANK YOU ❤️ I’ve felt a bit flat the last week, but after steeling myself to take a look at some reviews that flatness is easing.
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Maybe this feeling is normal? A post-publication day flatness... it’s familiar and kind of expected, I’ve felt it after any big thing. A kind of anti-climax, mixture of exhaustion and overwhelm maybe?
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Publishing in a pandemic is tough and the fact I haven’t even been able to see my book in a bookshop doesn’t help. There’s been no celebration with friends and family, no fun launch event, no way to officially mark it as such - that’s all on hold. And self-promotion always feels a bit cringe, but I know it’s important - not just to get the book out in the world but also to show my daughters that as women we must be proud of our achievements. Particularly when we’re so often told to be quiet.
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So here I am sharing this bloody wonderful review for Body Happy Kids: How to help children and teens love the skin they’re in. It speaks for itself. And while I’m here I’m going to be super direct and get over myself, to ask YOU to please leave a review if you’ve read the book too. It really does make a difference. Apparently Good Reads is also important (thank you to my buddy and book cheer leader @giraffemilklady for that nugget of advice).
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I’ve got a few cool bits of press coming up about the book but you can’t rely on media coverage of books - particularly when you’re not a celeb or have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. So word of mouth really is more important than ever. THANK YOU ✨
#BodyHappyKids
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#bodyacceptance #bodyimage
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[Image description: a screenshot of a five star Amazon review of the book Body Happy Kids. Full text in Alt Text.]

Body Happy Kids has been out in the world for just

Body Happy Kids has been out in the world for just over a week 🎉 It’s been wonderful and overwhelming to see people reading it all over the world. I’m so grateful for everyone tagging me in their posts and Stories, particularly as I haven’t been able to see the book in a real life book shop yet 😭 (publishing in a pandemic is tough 💔).
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If you’ve read the book I would be ever so grateful if you could leave it a review on Amazon. I’m told it makes a difference and can help some people decide whether to read it or not!
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This is a tiny thread taken from the chapter about toys. There’s some fascinating research into the impact of toys on body image in kids, showing that what children plays with matters. It’s not a straightforward case of banning Barbie (my 6yo loves her Barbies) but more a case of being mindful of the impact of these toys, talking about them and making sure kids have a range of different types of toys to play with. There’s a toolkit at the end of the chapter to help with this.
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As well as the research you’ll hear about in that chapter you’ll also hear from brilliant academics @christiaspearsbrown and @kopanoratele about the impact that gender stereotypes in toys have on the body image of children.
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In the meantime, swipe through to read a bit more about Barbie (including Slumber Party Barbie from 1960s 😱)
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I want to see more B roll photos. I want to see th

I want to see more B roll photos. I want to see the deleted photos, lying forgotten deep at the bottom of the trash folder. The discarded selfies. The ones taken and hastily replaced with ten “better” ones. I want the perfect imperfection, the unglossy, unfiltered, messy, grainy slightly out of focus frazzled photos.
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Not because we’re making a point about Insta versus reality, or to show that “even the girl in the photo doesn’t look like the girl in the photo”, or as the punchline to a joke about angles and what other people see versus what our phone sees when we swipe up. Just because.
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I want my daughters (when they’re old enough to have phones), to feel able to show up with a make-up free, unfiltered face without feeling like they need to do so with a caveat or an apology. I want them to be able to exist online just as they are, without being hailed as “so brave” just for putting up an image of them living their life that hasn’t been taken under perfect lighting or with on-fleek brows or posed just-so.
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We live in an age where we are all judging others and ourselves based on our appearance more than ever. Defining other peoples’ bodies. Deciding who is worthy or not worthy, who gets to speak, who gets our attention, based on what they look like. And looking at ourselves through the glare of a camera phone or zoom filter for hours every day. Living outside of our bodies and our faces. It’s. So. Boring.
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Talk to me about what you saw today, what you read, who you spoke to, what made you laugh, what made you think, that TV show that made you sob, the art that gave you tingles, the chat with your mate that left you aching to hug them.
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Show me the B roll photos, the messy, accidental, fuzzy, real moments of unposed, unselfconscious LIFE. I’m here for it. Here’s mine.
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[Image description in comments.]

Today the Women and Equalities Commission released

Today the Women and Equalities Commission released a big report into body image, with a whole raft of recommendations for the government to implement. The report included the findings of a large survey they did last year which found 66% of children suffer with negative feelings about their bodies most of the time.
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There are a number of recommendations in the report, including scrapping the use of BMI as a measurement of health, getting rid of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) that sees children being weighed in school, and encouraging the Department of Education to take a whole school approach to body image (as well as regularly reviewing the RSHE curriculum).
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Doing this job often feels like pushing water up a hill. It’s frustrating, anxiety inducing and regularly leaves me burned out. But there is no alternative because we MUST have change. Our children deserve better. We ALL deserve better. Today’s report is some welcome news and now it’s on all of us to continue the work and show we care about these issues. The more the government realises it’s an issue that people want prioritised, the more seriously they will take the findings and recommendations in the report.
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They have eight weeks to respond. We mustn’t stop talking about this.
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Parents, teachers, youth leaders: follow @bodyhappyorg (the social enterprise I founded to promote positive body image in children and teens) for more support in this area.
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I’m sharing what we offer here on my own account as I know there are some new people following me since the publication of my book last week and I want to let you know what resources and support we can offer in this area. I work with a brilliant team of people at @bodyhappyorg who are all equally committed to these issues. Hopefully this post will be useful - if you’re a parent we have support for you too. Check out the links in my bio or the @bodyhappyorg bio ❤️
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Last night I posted a reel about saying no to diet

Last night I posted a reel about saying no to diet culture and someone commented that it wasn’t so dramatic as a straight-sized white woman. They were right, it’s not. Hopefully this post explains why, but I want to make it super clear where I stand because this stuff is important.
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Also, a gentle reminder: it’s never OK to comment on or define someone else’s body without their consent. Holding people to account is important and appreciated. But piling in with comments about someone’s body as if they’re not there is rude and crosses a boundary I hold for my own body, and the bodies of others.
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Thank you for being here ❤️
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No you’re crying. Can’t express how much this

No you’re crying. Can’t express how much this means to me. 😭 #BodyHappyKids
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[Image description: A yellow square with a screenshot of a DM overlaid which reads “I’ve only read one chapter and I’m finding it so moving. There is not a moment of the day when I don’t worry about my 9 year old and how as a bigger child he may be stigmatised. I feel so empowered to have this book. We did the affirmations this morning and even the 2.5 year old joined in. Both my boys demeanour changed and when discussing ways in which the eldest thought his body was amazing was incredibly empowering. Thank you.”]

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