Parental Influence on Physical Activity and Nutrition.
As parents we want the best for our kids and encouraging them to eat healthy foods and to be involved in regular exercise is a great way of ensuring they have a strong healthy body, and develop good habits for later in life. But does what we say and do have an influence on our kids?
Physical activity
Recent studies have shown that physical activity in adolescence is increased in those that are actively encouraged by their parents. This is enhanced when the main influence is by the parent of the same sex in males and in younger girls. Older girls show they are less influenced regardless of which parent is the main influencer, this may be due to influences outside the home, such as friends, having a stronger effect. Surprisingly observing parents involved in their own physical fitness activities had less influence in the teenager’s activity levels – it appears they need to be actively encouraged.
Other studies in younger children have shown they unconsciously mimic their parent’s lifestyle. Children that have overweight less active parents, particularly fathers, tend to be overweight and less active themselves than children that have more active parents.
Things you can do
- Encourage your children to join sporting teams either through their school or a local club.
- Be a good role model by engaging in physical activities of your own.
- Be active as a family. Find an activity you all enjoy such as bike riding or kicking the ball around.
- When your children’s friends come over, encourage them to play outside or take them all to the park to play rather than playing on computer games.
Sedentary behaviour
Surprisingly physical activity has been shown to have no relationship to amount of sedentary behaviour (such as TV watching). Even kids involved in regular sports can have a high level of sedentary time. While it is important to have some quiet time there are things we can do that are slightly more active than zoning out in front of the TV.
Things you can do
Nutrition
Parental influence has an effect on children’s food intake. When they are young children rely on us for their main source of food. This is a great opportunity to ensure they get used to eating healthy food. Once they get older and start earning their own money we have less control over what they eat, this is why it’s important to teach them well while they are young so the influence will continue throughout the teenage years and into adulthood. Studies have shown that children involved in weight loss trials had a far greater percentage of weight loss and ability to maintain it long-term when it was the parents that were educated about good nutrition and were ultimately responsible for providing it for their children than when children were the main focus of nutrition education. Having parents act both as a source of authority and as a role model has the best outcomes.
Things you can do
- Make changes that involve the whole family, not just targeting one member of the family.
- Limit soft drinks to occasional treats and replace with milk or water.
- Replace snack foods such as chips with a piece of fruit.
- Limit takeaways to once a week.
- Ensure the whole family eats breakfast every day.
- Children can take up to 10 tries of a food before they will accept it, so keep persevering over a period of time.