{"id":7182,"date":"2016-10-13T11:22:23","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T01:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thenutritionguruandthechef.com\/?p=7182"},"modified":"2019-06-03T11:24:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T01:24:53","slug":"is-it-your-home-or-the-school-that-has-the-biggest-impact-on-our-childs-eating-and-exercise-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenutritionguruandthechef.com\/2016\/10\/13\/is-it-your-home-or-the-school-that-has-the-biggest-impact-on-our-childs-eating-and-exercise-patterns\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it your HOME or the SCHOOL that has the biggest impact on our child\u2019s eating and exercise patterns?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it your home<\/em><\/strong> or is it the school<\/em><\/strong> that makes the biggest difference in teaching your child about healthy eating and exercise? Which venue makes more of an impact on the health of your children?<\/p>\n

You might be thinking, \u201cMy son\u2019s day care doesn\u2019t serve the most nutritious meals, so are they ruining his health?\u201d Or maybe you are packing your kids lovely nutritious meals at school, but when they get home, they\u2019re allowed to help themselves to the junk food in the cupboard?<\/p>\n

\"7ad261_6eb7cb6deda143bc976bb9d2d4603078\"Meet Joyce Hidad, an Accredited Practising Dietitian from A Dieitian’s Mission<\/a>. She knows her stuff, and\u00a0has been doing some fabulous (real) scientific research to answer this\u00a0important\u00a0question:<\/p>\n

Is it our HOME or the SCHOOL that has the biggest impact on our child\u2019s eating and exercise behaviours? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By ‘behaviours’ we aren’t talking about being naughty. Behaviours refers to \u00a0their eating and exercise patterns. How much nutritious food they eat, and how much exercise they do. Joyce will share the results of her study, and what that means for you as a parent in this short article.<\/p>\n

Over to you Joyce\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What\u2019s already known?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is well established that children\u2019s eating and exercise habits are influenced by the home and<\/strong> by the school environment\u00a0 \u00a0As an example, if parents eat fruit and vegetables at home, the child will also eat fruit and vegetables. If the school restricts selling \u2018junk food\u2019, the child won\u2019t eat as much \u2018junk food\u2019.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not known?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Which one has more influence?\u00a0 School, or home?<\/p>\n

What did we do?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Children in Grades 4 \u2013 6 (mostly 9-11 year olds), their parents, and their school principals were studied.<\/p>\n

What did we find?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interestingly, we found that the home environment<\/strong> is in fact a stronger<\/em> influence on children\u2019s eating AND physical activity AND weight, compared to the school environment.<\/p>\n

When I say \u2018the home environment\u2019, I mean how parents role modelled healthy eating and physical activity. So, the more positively the parents were role modelling, the healthier children were eating, and the more physical activity they did.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll give some tips on how you can be a positive role model shortly.<\/em><\/p>\n

Although this group of children spend a lot of time at school, most<\/strong> of their day is actually spent at home.<\/p>\n

This means that parents at home still have a very big influence on children of that age, even if parents think they\u2019re not spending much time with them. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is important for parents to be positive role models if they want children to do more activity and eat more fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n

So, here are a few things you can start doing which can help:<\/p>\n

Physical Activity<\/strong><\/h1>\n

KNOW that your children need more than 60 minutes<\/u> of physical activity every day<\/u>. This way, you can start ENCOURAGING them to do some running around. Summer school holidays are coming up \u2013 the perfect time to start getting active. Make use of any chance you can get: grab your children and go outside!!<\/p>\n