Topic 2 The role of family, eating habits, organizational aspects and skills
Overweight parents are more likely to have overweight children
There is a great influence of parental dietary habits on dietary behaviors of their children
Role modeling behaviors:
✔ Providing healthy foods
✔ Sharing meals with children
✔ Having breakfast together
✔ Encouraging children to have healthy snacks
✔ The home food environment determines what kind of foods are available and accessible to children
🡪 The encouragement practice gives children a chance of making decisions
🡪 The moderate restriction practice helps parents to imply clearer instructions to their children
X Excessive pressure or restriction
X Using foods as rewards
The change in the family structure (both parents working, lack of social support, fast-paced rhythms) makes it difficult to organize healthy meals by favoring the more frequent use of industrial and pre-prepared foods.
In addition, parents often lack the knowledge and skills about healthy cooking.
Source: Freepik
- Always set a good example for children.
- Having breakfast with children is a way to encourage and get them used to it.
- Make sure that the child consumes sweets and fizzy drinks only on special occasions, without exaggerating but also without always banning them.
- Do not fall into the habit of always offering the usual things that the child has shown to accept easily, giving up only after a few attempts to propose foods that the child has refused at other times.