Young children consider their parents to be their greatest role models. They seek their parents’ approval and want to be like them in as many ways as possible. They notice when their parents are there and when they are not. The importance of parental behavior cannot be overstated because children focus on more things than we imagine or give them credit for.
Through decades of research, we’ve learned from mental health experts and research psychologists about the importance of parental presence and different attachment styles. These days, many parenting-focused publications tend to have a bit more urgency throughout.
We know that being physically and emotionally present for our children is important. In Hold On To Your Kids: Why parents Need To Matter More Than Peers, Dr. Gabor Maté writes extensively about the importance of parental influence on children’s behavior, health, and sense of safety. In Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood In The First Three Years Matters, Erica Komisar, LCSW, shares the importance of mothers staying home with their children early in life. Her therapeutic experience and review of the research literature show that a mother’s presence allows a child to develop a more secure attachment, which in turn helps the child to be more emotionally well-rounded, resilient, and healthy. Helpful.
Parents’ relationship with food influences their children
At a more granular level, we can see how the daily behaviors parents model around basic health such as eating, sleeping, and transportation shape the patterns and habits that emerge among their children. New research by a team of British behavioral scientists suggests there is a direct and significant link between parents’ interactions with food and their children’s eating habits.
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In this study, parents were assessed and categorized into four different types of eating relationships: typical eating, enthusiastic eating, emotional eating, and avoidant eating. Parents then provided information about their child’s eating behavior between ages 3 and 6.
Approximately 40% of parents were typical binge eaters, with no severe or intense food-related behaviors. Committed eaters (approximately 37%) were parents who made eating decisions based on environmental and emotional cues rather than their own hunger cues. They scored low on satiety responsiveness and slow eating. Almost 16% of parents were emotional overeaters, who ate in response to emotions more than any other stimulus and were more likely to engage in emotional overeating. The remaining parents (6%) were avoidant eaters who did not enjoy food as much as the other parents and were picky about their food choices.
Children tended to develop similar eating relationships with their parents. Similarities in eating-related styles were particularly pronounced for those with enthusiastic or avoidant eating behaviors.
Parents with an intense or emotional eating relationship tend to use food for emotional regulation more than parents with typical eating behaviors, which suggests that their children also have an intense or emotional eating relationship. It is correlated with
These parents were also less likely to create a healthy, positive eating environment at home. Children were more likely to avoid food if the food environment was unhealthy.
Changes in the relationship between food and emotions
Parental behavior can shape children’s behavior in all aspects of life, including food choices and various eating behaviors. The results from these data analyzes provide insight into the tightly coupled nature of the parent-child feeding relationship, particularly with regard to emotional regulation. Currently, CDC data shows that 20% of youth ages 12 to 18 have type 2 diabetes. Behavior can change at any point in life, but it is easier to adopt healthy eating habits established in childhood and grow into adulthood than to reconfigure those habits as an adult. There is no doubt that there is. Given the strong impact this research suggests that parents’ relationships with food have on their children, perhaps continued work in this area would be helpful in helping parents develop healthier relationships with food, first for themselves. It can serve as a springboard for building for the child and, in turn, for the child.
Suggestions for changing the relationship with food at home with children
Establish a source of comfort that isn’t food related. Celebrate accomplishments with fun activities and experiences instead of sweets. Keep healthy foods available at home on a regular basis. Involve children in the cooking and baking process. Eat meals at regular times or on a schedule that is predictable for your child.
