What my body can do

The sheet

Four cards, one for each week of a month: something your body managed, something it felt, something it mended. Print a set each. The second page is for you.

Cards to fill in · A4, two pages: four cards, and a page for you · Two pages · PDF, 59 KB

How it helps

What a child hears about bodies at home, including what adults say about their own, affects how the child sees theirs. Noticing each week what their body did gives them a way of thinking about it that has nothing to do with how it looks.

How to use it

1. Read the second page first. It is for you, and says what to leave off the cards, and when to see your GP. If your child is being treated for an eating disorder, ask their team before you try this.
2. Print a set of cards for each of you. Once a week for a month, you each fill in a card: something your body managed, something it felt, something it mended.
3. Go first, with plain facts about your own body, then let your child write or draw theirs. Leave out anything counted or measured, and don’t compare cards.
4. Your child keeps their cards where they choose. After a month, stop the cards, and go on mentioning what bodies do.

How to get this sheet

This sheet comes with a subscription. It is also yours with its chapter, if that is the chapter you read free, or if a teacher or therapist sends it to you. School staff and therapists signed in to their shelf can print it too.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full, with its sheets. This one goes with Body Image.

Free to print

These are free to anyone, with nothing to sign up for.

• A plan for a bad dayTo fill in together · A4
• Before you ring the schoolFor a call or a meeting · A4
• What to say: school and friendsCards to cut out · A4, eight cards to cut
• Before the SENCo meetingFor a meeting · A4
• Three reports, side by sideFor a meeting · A4 landscape
• The return-to-school meetingFor a meeting · A4
• The move to secondary school, for a parents’ eveningFor a parents’ evening · A4, five pages
• The last half-hour before bedFor the fridge · A4
• The worry ladderTo fill in together · A4
• Before you see the GP about your childFor an appointment · A4, two sides
• A record of what happenedFor a call or a meeting · A4, two pages
• The people I can tellTo make together · A4, two pages

Every sheet, marked free or with a subscription, is at theparentbook.com/printables.