Research that was recently presented at the BC Dairy Foundation Milk & Cookies Event shows that a parent's feeding style can influence a child's weight and attitude toward food. Force feeding, offering rewards (like dessert), restricting foods, or restricting nothing at all are methods that, though well-intentioned, can backfire.
"Children are more sensitive to the satiety cues than adults and know when to stop eating. When you force feed, you disrupt your child's natural satiety cues, which may lead to overeating later. You also create a lifelong aversion or dislike for the foods you force your child eat. Force feeding can also be associated with negative behaviors such as sneak eating."
If there are foods that you'd like to restrict, make sure your child knows that even though you're choosing not to have those foods in your house, other houses will have them and they're okay to eat. Also, lead by example by eating the foods you want your child to eat. Source: CNW Group
Labels: attitudes, feeding_style, influences