Teach the little ones how to eat by preaching by example
Do you want your son eat well? Preach by example, it's that easy. Learning good eating habits will mean being able to teach the little ones how to handle themselves at the table. But do parents know these notions of nutrition? Are they able to instill these practices?
According to the Cinfasalud Study, no, most parents in Spain are not able to teach good Feeding Habits to their children because they do not know them directly. These adults make many mistakes when eating at the table and allow many violations that end up affecting the nutrition of the smallest of the house.
Errors on the table from early in the morning
According to this work, errors at the table that parents allow are given from the first meal of the day. The data in this study shows that eight out of ten families have an incorrect breakfast. While this menu must be composed of three food groups: fruit, milk and cereals, only one in ten includes the first. The lack of time caused by the early mornings is the main cause.
Although perhaps the biggest problem detected by this study is the permissiveness that parents give to eat with the TV on or with any other screen present since at least 71% of children in Spain sit at the table with some device turned on near him. It is at this point that adults have greater responsibility as they are often those who use these items, either to answer a message on their smartphone or watch a program on television, which makes children see this behavior as something normal.
Teaching to eat: risk practices
This study also reflects many of the risky practices that many parents make at the table with their children. The first is to force completion everything on the plate Even if the child says he is full and has no more appetite. Forcing the child to take more food than he or she needs can cause serious nutritional problems such as getting used to eating more than necessary.
As for the way in which parents face nutritional problems such as obesity. According to the data of this study, 43% of adults do not adopt no measure to know the news that your child is overweight and still allowing the child to maintain these bad eating habits even though these are not healthy.
Among the 47% who do take measures against overweight their children, there are also those who take dangerous measures. For example, 12.7% of these adults have children initiate a diet without having previously consulted any specialist. Although it is true that the vast majority goes to a specialist before starting any treatment.
Good nutritional habits for children
Many of these problems can be prevented by instilling good habits food. Although obesity and overweight are also influenced by genetic factors, behavior at the table is also an important part of the problem. This work indicates that almost 52% consume meat between four and seven times a week, an amount that exceeds that recommended by the experts, who recommend doing it between one and three times.
And if the meat is exceeded, other foods are missing. For example, only one in five children drinks fish as often as nutrition experts advise, more than three times a week. On the other hand, just over 13% of children eat vegetables in more than seven weekly occasions.
Damián Montero
