Question 2
This study found
that modeling healthy foods to young children is associated with diet quality. What
other parental feeding practices are associated with diet quality? Which
parental feeding practices do you think are the most effective?
posted by Moriah Gramm @ 9:43 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
I believe that modeling healthy food choices is one of the most effective practices when trying to increase a child’s food quality. I found it very interesting that as young as 18 months old, children are picking up on what their parents are eating and begin food modeling at such a young age. I often forget how smart and observant children are, and this article shows that children are watching and constantly learning from their parents. I found it very interesting that breastfeeding mothers were also associated with increased diet quality. The article suggests that breastfeeding mothers might have greater diet quality overall, since studies have shown that breastfeeding moms eat more fruits and vegetables than non breastfeeding moms do. The article suggests that breastfeeding moms might be more likely to practice healthy food modeling behaviors overall, therefore increasing the diet quality of their child.
I agree that modeling healthy choices is one of the strongest influences on healthy eating in young children. Parents that choose to have fruits and vegetables in their meals and display a dinner plate filled with color and portion control can be a model for a child making up his/her own plate. Trying to get a child to like vegetables without the parent eating them as well may be confusing for a child, compared to watching mom or dad eating vegetables and trying new things. Even trying foods for the first time with a child can help, by making it more interesting than just telling/forcing the child to eat the food on their plate. Letting them first have the choice to try something may increase their chance of trying other foods later on, because they are not being forced to eat something they may truly not like.
Tessa brought up a good point about the article in which studies found that breastfeeding mothers consume more fruits and vegetables compared to non breastfeeding mothers. I find that interesting, but see where that can have an influence on the child's diet quality. Consuming more fruits and vegetables around the child as they are growing up, and being a positive influence by offering vegetables at meal time can indeed improve the diet quality of the child.
Parental modeling of healthy eating is one of the most effective ways to promote fruit and vegetable intake in children. Other factors, such as amount of sleep and screen time, can also affect the amount of fruits and vegetables consumed. Overall, studies indicate that parents who promote healthy eating habits, increased physical activity, and limited amounts of screen time (television, computers, phones, etc.) have children with higher consumption of fruits and vegetables and overall better diet quality.
Nikki brings up a great point regarding parents who force their children to eat something that they aren't willing to consume. This does not send a very good message to the child and ultimately negatively impacts a child's view of produce. Tessa also made a great point that breastfeeding is associated with better diet quality. The article gave suggestions as to why this occurs, but it would be interesting to see much research behind it. In addition to breastfeeding longer and having better maternal diet quality, the level of maternal education was also associated with better child diet quality. This could be due to having a higher paying job or easier access to nutrition education. This too would be an interesting area to research and apply intervention for mothers with less education as well as the impact of paternal education.
Holly, the article's point about maternal education and diet quality stood out to me as well. The more educated a mother is, the healthier diet choices she is likely to make for her children. Perhaps this is because more educated people have more time and appreciation to dedicate to health and well-being. I wonder how we might be able to increase diet quality among less educated mothers. I imagine WIC is one great outlet for this, but it would be awesome to reach a large population and encourage healthy eating from a young age across all populations.
To go along with modeling, I think the language parents use about food could also have a great influence on children's perceptions of fruits and vegetables. If parents glorify fried foods and sweets, kids will likely see them as superior food choices. Similarly, if parents use enthusiastic language about fruits and vegetables, kids may get excited about it.
Modeling is probably one of the most effective feeding practices that influences a child eating choices and diet quality. However, a child can only model parental eating behaviors with the food present to them. If the child is only presented with unhealthy food choices then the child will make unhealthy choices. Therefore, if a child is presented with healthy food choices that are reflective of their parents’ palates then they will model these behaviors and have a healthy diet quality than a child without these healthy choices or parental observations. Also, as the study pointed out diet quality was also a reflection of breastfeeding and parental education. So, healthy eating habits are a result of parental knowledge about what healthy food choices are and the provision these choices for both themselves and their children.
I agree, modeling is an effective feeding practice that can greatly effect a child's eating choices and diet quality. Building healthy habits from a young age is a successful strategy in continuing healthy eating later in life. While I think modeling may be one of the most important strategies, alternative parental feeding methods include allowing the child to be involved by serving themselves, assuring mealtimes are within a positive environment, and also allowing the child to be involved in the cooking process. When children have participated in the cooking of a food item, such as cleaning vegetables or tossing a salad, they are more inclined to try the food they helped prepare. Thus, aside from modeling, I think child participation in the cooking process would be the second most effective parental feeding method.
Parents modeling healthy eating behaviors through eating the foods themselves and using positive language about the foods have key influences on children’s eating behaviors. Children pick up on their parents’ actions and language, regardless of if these are positive or negative. Parents can allow children to help plan meals by asking the children what they want to eat. A specific strategy could be allowing the children to pick out which vegetable to have with dinner from amongst several choices. Getting children involved in the selection of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store and helping prepare the items at home are more great ways to promote positive eating habits for children. When kids feel like they have some control over the menu and get a chance to make something they can take ownership of, they may be more likely to eat the healthy foods. Parents have a large amount of control over children’s eating habits because they are the purchasers of the foods. Parents decide what goes in the cart, comes into the house, and goes on the plate. While many factors influence parent shopping habits (especially income and food accessibility), parents should be very attentive to the food purchasing behaviors they practice.
The possible explanations provided in the article for this phenomenon are all logical. I believe that this association between breastfeeding and children’s healthier diets are related to mothers’ health knowledge and subsequent behaviors. Mothers who breastfeed for longer periods of time must have some motivation to do so, as it is time-consuming and requires significant effort. The motivating factor may be that these mothers are educated on the positive health effects breastfeeding has on infant health in the short and long term. If these mothers are indeed conscious of this and prioritize their child’s health in this way, it is very likely that they will feed their child and themselves healthy foods consistently in accordance with their concern for health. I do not believe that flavors imparted to children through breastmilk significantly influence the child’s eating behaviors later on. While the transmission of flavors in this way may increase the child’s acceptance of certain flavors throughout development, I would not anticipate this would have a large effect on overall nutritional status or eating patterns especially over the long term. The attitudes and health behaviors that may be held by mothers who breastfeed for a long time likely have the largest effect on this association found in the study.
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Kandice made a similar point to the one I made about children eating what is presented to them. While children should have a say in what they eat and how much to eat, parents are responsible for the choices that their children choose from. Parents must provide the food and offer the children freedom to choose among the choices. Parents will buy and serve the foods they like, and thus children are greatly influenced by their parents’ preferences. This goes back to the importance of healthy eating education for parents. Modeling desirable eating behaviors, making healthy food purchases, and using positive language regarding food are key responsibilities of parents in terms of their children’s eating habits. Noel also emphasized the point that I too made about child involvement in meal prep. When kids are directly involved in what goes on their plate and the process involved in getting it there, they have a personal connection with the food before they even get the chance to eat it. This connection may increase the likelihood of consumption and further interest in trying new healthy foods.
Noel, I like how you pointed out the positive effects of involving children in the cooking process. This is a great way to get children to try new things, and have fun while doing it. Modeling is important, but directly involving the child is usually very successful!
Justine, I think you made a great point about how parental influence (visual and verbal) on children’s food choices includes the language they use to describe foods, the foods they eat, and they foods they provide for their children. Noel, you also made a great point about meal time atmosphere. Mealtimes need to be a positive environment. Otherwise resentment and hostility can grow resulting in a negative association with eating, possibly resulting in disorder eating habits.
In addition to modeling parents may effect their children's eating habits in the manner in which food is offered. As mentioned by Nikki, the sudden placement of fruits, vegetables, or anything new without discussion, modeling, or advertisement may create a lasting negative experience for the child especially if the food is then made into the focal point of a stressful stand off. The 2014 study, 'Modifications in parent feeding practices and child diet during family-based behavioral treatment improve child zBMI' by Holland et al., highlighted how in combination with healthy modeling, a moderate restriction approach leads to healthier BMI's in overweight children overtime. In contrast to ideal application too much or little 'cabinet' restriction led to a gorging of forbidden food, or complete naïve guideless consumption of available treats. Parents may best serve their children through providing consistent meal times with a focus on core nutrition principles. In addition to modeling healthy behaviors, parents may recruit their children as nutrition advocates to assist in family meals, host and teach what they learn to other families at parties and overall explore the why behind the plate. As parents reach out to wider community resources including other families modeling will become easier as positive examples could stem from coaches with healthy snacks at sports practice.
Kirsten, your point on the power of purchase is important. Children are highly susceptible to the ad messages of food manufacturers, the active countering presence of parents in grocery stores must be established at an early age to balance such influences. With the effort of a creative parent, young children can be diverted from the Cheetos cheetah to investigate other tasty creatures.
http://www.superhealthykids.com/fun-after-school-snacks/uploads/files/14241/large/Racoon%20Snack%20Labeled%20copy.jpg
Kids will model their parents behaviors, whether its through eating habits, how they talk, dress, and so on. It makes me wonder what our true target population should be to address the trend of childhood obesity. If their parents don't eat healthy, shouldn't we be teaching young men and women about the importance of eating healthy diets way sooner than at an "expecting parents" class?
Noel, I also find it interesting that breastfeeding mothers were more likely to have better diet quality. I wonder what the relationships are between income, breastfeeding, and diet quality. I will have to do some research and see if there are studies that find associations between both variables!
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