They say sparing the rod spoils the child–but doing so now could save your child from becoming obese later in life, according to a new study.
Presented at the American Heart Association’s Science Sessions 2014 meeting, researchers say that children whose parents were authoritarian–that is, parents who are typically demanding but not responsive to their emotions and needs–are 37 percent more likely to become obese later in life.
Worse yet, obesity in childhood often leads to full-blown obesity and eating problems in adulthood, something that isn’t always easy to reverse.
“We looked at the general way that parents can affect their child’s obesity even if they are not trying to control specific health-related behaviors,” says Lisa Kakinami, a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University and lead author of the study. “The main difference in authoritative vs. authoritarian styles is the warmth expressed between the parent and child. And when their children misbehaved, authoritarian parents were “most likely to respond emotionally and punish the child but not tell them what they had done wrong.”
The Research
Working with a team of colleagues from McGill University, Kakinami wanted to see how certain parenting styles, such as being too authoritarian, affected the weights of their children, something hypothesized in the past to increase their obesity risk. To do so, she recruited a group of more than 37,000 children in Canada between the ages of zero to 11 years and then asked the parents how they interacted with their children, including how they disciplined them. Kakinami also investigated how they reacted when their child did something positive, such as if they received praise for doing a good deed.
After the questioning was complet, Kakinami then sought to divide these parents into groups based on their parenting style, ranging from authoritative to negligent. Worst on her list was authoritarian–a parenting style which focuses heavily on discipline and strict rules without explaining to the children while these rules are enforced.
As it turns out, this “bad” parenting style also made their children the most likely to face obesity problems as they got older.
“When a parent says absolutely ‘no,’ that becomes forbidden fruit, and kids may then value that more,” says Dr. Stephen Daniels, chair of pediatrics at the University of Colorado. “Since we are all concerned about how to prevent obesity from developing in the first place, these kind of data are helpful to direct us toward thinking about important risk factors and how to address them.”
What You Should Do
Obviously, none of us want to make our children obese, so what do you do? The solution couldn’t be clearer, according to Daniels: Authoritarian parenting is a no no.
“Ignoring bad behavior but rewarding good behavior is the best way to think about this,” says Daniels. “Punishing bad behavior and ignoring good behavior doesn’t work from a psychological standpoint.”
As for ways to avoid this parenting style, the solution is fairly simple: Make sure to praise your child for all of the good things he or she does instead of focusing on strict order and discipline. A little lee way won’t hurt anybody–and it may help them develop more healthy eating habits down the road.
Readers: Do you think being too strict can harm someone’s eating habits? Why or why not?
Sources:
Study: Strict Parents More Likely to Create Obese Children – MedicalNewsToday.com
Parenting Like a Tiger Mom May Make Your Kids Obese – Time.com
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