Banning TV in kid’s bedrooms and eating family dinners at the table are the healthy way to go
BANNING an ever-popular kids ‘activity’ and reviving a sadly outdated family ritual are being touted as the next interventions needed to slim down overweight children.
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BANNING television from children’s bedrooms and eating meals at the table as a family are being touted as the next interventions needed to slim down overweight children.
Research has found a link between common parenting traps that lead to unhealthy diets for kids and resulting expansion of their waistline.
A research report published in The BMJ’s Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health links three parenting practices — television in the bedroom of a child, informal main meals and negative mealtime social interaction — and an unhealthy BMI.
The research found the behaviours were most pronounced in families of lower socio-economic status with the mothers’ education level used to measure this.
Heart Foundation nutrition manager Deanne Wooden said the solutions were simple strategies for parents to implement to reduce the risk of having an overweight child.
About 27 per cent of Queensland children are overweight or obese.
The study found a television in the bedroom of a child had the greatest negative affect on their BMI, with the blame laid on children snacking unsupervised and greater exposure to junk food advertisements.
“What is also playing into this is potentially higher levels of sedentary activity,” Ms Wooden said.
Ms Wooden said structured meal settings and positive discussions around the dinner table were also integral to children’s health and a time to set healthy food examples.
Active youngster Taylor Hughes, 4, will never have a television in her bedroom and always eats dinner with her parents.
Her father Cameron, 44, said she was very active.
“To us it’s all about the balance, you don’t want her to not have technology and TV in her life, but we like seeing her outside playing and know that the activity is vital for her health,’’ he said.
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