A new study reports that letting children make their own decisions about food and what they eat can lead to better nutrition and healthier lifelong eating behaviors. They noted that the way children are fed is as important as what they are fed.
The American Heart Association recommends an overall positive eating environment for children through reducing parental pressure on children to eat meals, and giving them a wide variety of healthy eating options.
In this way, children will be encouraged to "take ownership" of their eating decisions, which will help develop eating patterns associated with a healthy weight for an entire lifetime.
However, an 'authoritarian' approach does not allow a child to develop decision-making skills, which leads to snacking and unhealthy diets.
The Role of Parents and Caregivers in a Child's Mealtime
The role of the parents and caregivers in creating positive mealtimes is very important as they help prevent future generations from being destroyed by health problems like obesity and cardiovascular disease later in life, said Dr. Alexis Wood of the Children's Nutrition Research Center and Baylor College of Medicine's department of pediatrics in Houston.
Since each child is an individual; and differs in their tendency to make healthy food decisions, it is important to focus on creating an environment that encourages decision-making skills. In doing so, children will be exposed to a variety of healthy, nutritious foods throughout childhood.
Caregivers and parents may find it challenging to allow their children to make their own food decisions, especially if their kids are picky eaters - a common trait of children in ages between 1 to 5 years - as they are still discovering the tastes and textures of solid foods.
Although it may feel rewarding at first, an authoritarian and rigid rule on eating habits and using tactics like rewards and punishment could have serious long-term negative consequences. It does not allow the child to develop decision-making skills and can lessen their sense of control, which are two important developmental processes for children.
How to Encourage Children to Eat Healthy Foods
The study suggests numerous ways to encourage children to eat healthy foods in a way that will not backfire, causing a rebellious and unhealthy eating habit.
One of these methods is avoiding to pressure children to eat more than they can, even if they have not finished eating a full plate. If they are pressured into eating a lot, it may be hard for them to listen to their internal cues that they are full.
This could result in children eating even when they are not hungry, leading to unnecessary overeating. They can be influenced by the overall atmosphere at mealtime, although they can innately stop eating when they are full.
Therefore, caregivers and parents can model eating habits by enthusiastically eating a particular type of food to help a child accept it.
Another method of promoting a positive eating environment is by allowing the child to pick food that they want to eat from a selection of healthy choices and serving healthy and new foods that they enjoy. However, the authors recommend providing consistent timing for meals because it eliminates the tendency to eat snacks throughout the day.
Employing an 'indulgent approach' to the child, wherein parents or guardians allowing them to eat whatever they want, does not provide enough boundaries for children to develop healthy eating habits. The researchers also linked this 'laissez-faire' approach to a higher risk of obesity on children.
Other family members can also contribute to the eating environment of the child as a lot of people influences it in their lives. It would be best for the whole family to demonstrate healthy eating habits.
The researchers said that parents and caregivers should not feel unnecessary stress or blame if a child's behavior does not go into the plan. They acknowledge that the socio-economic status of a family could also make implementing a positive eating environment more of a challenge.
