It's the end of a long workday, which also included managing your children's schedules and after-school activities. You're exhausted, and the kids just won't eat their broccoli. You ask nicely.
Cajole. Outright beg. Finally, you've had it and resort to threats, warning that misbehavior is going to cost the kids dessert if they don't eat their broccoli.
You're not proud, but it works. New research from the University of Georgia suggests this type of interaction at the dinner table becomes more likely as parents grow increasingly overwhelmed and stressed. Difficult jobs, too much to do and financial worries are daily stressors on family life.
Those stressors add up and may result in parents engaging in less than ideal behaviors at the dinner table . While one mealtime incident of pressuring may not affect a child's relationship with food, multiple negative experiences related to meals add up. "Minimizing overwhelm is important to help parents create positive experiences that reinforce healthy eating behaviors in kids when they're young so that they have habits that they can fall back on," said Allan Tate, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in UGA's College of Public Health.
"This matters for child health and development because healthy dietary intake is protective against onset of chronic diseases later in adulthood." As parents' patience begins to wane and they run out of mental "space," they often resorted to less ideal feeding practices both that day and the.
