Question 2
In your opinion,
where would you expect a stronger positive relationship, between the diet quality of
the father and his child or between the physical activity habits of the father
and his child? What is your reasoning?
posted by Unknown @ 7:20 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
I believe there would be a stronger relationship between physical activity habits between a father and a child. Like Dr. Vollmer discusses, rough and tumble play is usually more characteristic of fathers. And it was this vigorous play, not light-moderate physical activity, that showed a strong, positive relationship between fathers and their children.
Again, I beleive this is related to father's modeling positive behaviors for their children. But since fathers perceive that this vigorous play enhances their relationship with their children, I believe that the relationship between physical activity habits would be stronger overall. Since the behavior forms a stronger bond between parent and child, I would imagine this factor would have a stronger, positive relationship over diet quality.
I agree with Jenn in saying that I would expect physical activity habits to be more likely associations for fathers. We often think of the father as the one who tosses a ball around in the yard with their child and the mother as the one providing the meal (stereotypical answer...don't tell Dr. Anderson!). This is likely due to the differences in parenting styles of parents. If the child is "rough housing" more with their father, then they are probably going to have a stronger positive relationship in that aspect. I think more research needs to be done in this area to confirm these speculations though.
I agree with Jenn and Amanda above. I think physical activity would play a bigger role because fathers are expected to teach their kids to engage in physical activity including learning to play catch or riding a bike. I agree with Amanda that it is what we stereotypically think of. However, this would obviously vary by families, environment, socioeconomic statuses, culture, and more. It has always been the expectations that boys are more active than girls. Girls are expected to stay at home, sew, cook and gather what the family needs since the beginning of history. So, I would expect that fathers would be the role model and the parent to emphasize physical activity and engage in it while the mother is more concerned about what to feed their children.
Without knowing from this article and Dr. Vollmer, I would have guessed that mothers had a greater influence on a child's diet quality while fathers had greater influence on physical activity.
My first reaction was that eating well and working out go hand and hand, so a father who works out most likely eats well. But then I started thinking of people I know, and I decided that was an incorrect initial reaction. In a perfect world, everyone would have time to work out and eat well, but unfortunately that is not reality. Vivian, you make a good point about possibly the father having more of an influence on the physical activity of the child whereas the mother may have more influence on the diet. When children are active with their dad, it is usually fun games or “rough housing” so the children may not even recognize it as physical activity. At a young age, the children learn how to have fun being active without thinking of it as a chore or dreading it. I think this is different than eating healthy which the children may refuse healthy foods and be extremely picky. I think this is why diet may be a bigger factor. If eating healthy in the family is a norm, then the children will be more open to new foods or willing to eat their vegetables. Long answer short, I think a father’s diet has more influence because I think it is harder to get kids to eat healthy than it is to get them to be active.
I clearly did not read this question before responding to the first. As I previously mentioned, traditionally, people view dads as the promoter of physical activity habits and the mother as the promoter of dietary habits. In other words, I believe there is a stronger positive relation between the physical activity habits of the father and his child. My reasoning for this is that mothers traditionally do the grocery shopping and cooking, while fathers traditionally do yard work and encourage sporting activities. I know as a kid, my dad after dinner would also ask me to go outside and play catch or play basketball, because that is what he enjoyed doing, so he was ultimately passing along his appreciation for physical activity by encouraging me.
As Amanda and Vivian mentioned, these are only stereotypes that could vary from family to family and effect the study's results.
It's interesting to look at the discussion and see how much our formed stereotypes of a family play into our responses. The family is such a crucial unit/system and we all have our own definition of what a family is based on our own experiences. The media also has a great influence on what we envision a family should look like. I am also intrigued how the gender roles fit into the stereotype. In this study there were no differences between gender of the children and the outcomes, which might be expected.
I think Abby makes a great point- that most often it can be more difficult to get a picky child to eat something they don't want to than it is to get them to be active. I believe it is easier to enforce healthy diet quality when the parents already follow one, like Abby mentioned, making the parents a very influential force.
Fantastic discussion!
I agreed with Abby's point about the father perhaps having a more positive healthful influence. If it is true that the father is more physically active with their child and the mother plays more of a role in the sense of eating fruits and vegetables, the father's role might be seen more positively by the child. When you think of being a kid, you might say that you were "forced" to eat broccoli and other fruits and vegetables. If that is the mother's role, it is seen negatively. However, if the father is more involved with the play aspects, then that role may have more of a positive influence. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the research is showing such a correlation between the father figure.
My initial thought is that I would definitely expect a stronger positive relationship between the physical activity habits of the father and child. I am thinking specifically of a more traditional nuclear family and based upon my past experiences though of course. My dad was was always the one out in the yard with me throwing the ball around and being active. It is difficult for me to picture this scenario any other way and there certainly is a huge influence of this perspective portrayed in the media.
I definitely can see Abby and Amanda's perspective on positive vs. negative influences on healthy eating as well. It may be that the mother is seen as more of the enforcer to the child when it comes to eating fruits and vegetables simply because there could be more interaction time between the two.
I think the significance of the influence will depend on where dad finds his enjoyment. If dad gets his enjoyment sitting in front of the TV eating or indulging in lots of sweets, it is likely the child will follow suit. If the dad enjoys being physically active and encourages sports participation, the child will value the physical activity. If the dad values healthy eating, the child would likely value that. We learn the value of things and the meaning of different things from our families first. (Man, this month has theories all over it). The value and meaning of what is “enjoyable” is passed on to the kid. It becomes habit out of familiarity and learned thought processes. It would likely depend on what the dad sees as most rewarding and important.
Amanda brought up a great point. Play is mostly fun. Eating your vegetables as a child is well... not. If we are forced into doing something we don't want to, we either don't do it just to dig our heels in or we do it begrudgingly. Associating that feeling with mom's orders might make us resistant to taking on her habits. If dad is the fun and games, we are more receptive to his role modeling. Again it would likely depend on the roles each parent has within the family. There is so much diversity in family structure now a days, it is hard to determine causation.
Like everyone else my first instinct is to think that there would be a more positive correlation between the father and child's physical activity. However, after giving the question some more thought now I'm not so sure. I think that Amanda brought an interesting perspective into the conversation. I hadn't really considered that I too was thinking of a traditional nuclear family (as stated by Sophie) before I read her comment. Although I'm sure dietary or physical activity correlations vary from family to family, maybe in today's society a father's diet correlates more with his child's diet than their physical activity. I'm thinking that the average household purchases a good deal of ready to eat processed snacks and microwaved meals... meaning that everyone in the family may be eating the same thing. And with children's screen time increasing, perhaps the father is maybe partaking in a bit more physical activity in general than the child, but at the end of the day they are eating the same thing?
I think that in our society there would be a more positive correlation between the father and child's physical activity based on the the typical nuclear family. However, that being said I think that we can not assume that the correlation would be the same in all families. I think that men IN GENERAL are more active in their hobbies than women in our society. For example, most typical male hobbies include physical activity like getting a group of guys together to play basketball while women tend to do less active things together. That being said I think there is more opportunity for dads to interact and bond with their children through physical activity where mothers might bond with their children through conversation at the dinner table for example. I would be surprised if there was a more positive correlation between fathers' diets and their children's habits compared to the correlation between physical activity, but then again the results in the study may suggest that to be true.
I agree with Gina that the child will be influenced based on what the father enjoys. Typically the child does not get a lot of time with their father if the father works so the little time the child has with dad can have a huge influence. For example, if the father is willing to go outside with their child after work to play the child will most likely do that to get extra time with dad. However, if the father wants to sit inside and watch television I think that the child would rather follow the father and stay inside just to get more time with dad.
I think Amanda and Gina also bring up an interesting point about the parent who enforces eating at the table. I think that a positive table environment can influence how much influence the father has in their child's dietary habits. For example, if a child is forced to eat things he or she does not like at the table the father might not have as much influence on a child's dietary habits or might hinder some of the child's dietary habits. However, if the father makes dinner fun and gets his children excited about healthy foods he might influence the child more. For example, if the father talks about how cool it is to eat fruits and vegetables and how great they are the kids might be more receptive to the idea as opposed to the father forcing their child to finish his or her food before being allowed to leave the table. My dad forced me to eat peppers as a kid at the table one night..... to this day I despise peppers and will never eat them. I think that just goes to show you that how food is presented to kids by a parent can really influence a child's dietary habits. Therefore, I do not know if you could really make a correlation between the father's dietary habits and a child's habits because there are so many other factors that can play a role in the parent/ child relationship and dietary eating habits.
Gina brings up an intriguing point! Many of us discussed how fathers are often involved in encouraging physical activity among their children because they are asking their children to go play sports outside with them. However, I haven't considered how some fathers may be lying on the couch most of the time and encouraging his child to do the same. He can just as well have a negative influence, as mentioned previously, on a child's physical activity than a positive influence. Likewise, if a child sees his father picking out all his vegetables, it may encourage picky eating in the child. After hearing from others, I feel that the amount of influence a father has on his child's physical activity and dietary habits greatly depends on how often he is around his child for play time and meal times. However, these studies really point out how important it is for fathers to be aware of their lifestyle to encourage the healthier lifestyle habits in their children because it matters!
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