Most parents do not realise that they have an unintentional influence on what their children drink, as children copy what they see their parents doing.
According to a new report by the Natural Hydration Council, Drink as I do: The influence of parents’ drink choices on children, published on 1 September, 2016, “Parents are the main gatekeepers to the foods and drinks that are kept at home, as well as being children’s chief role models.â€
The report, whose aim was to look at how influential parents drink choices are on their children’s hydration habits through analysis of scientific research and a survey, studied children aged 4-8 years old, and their parents.
The study revealed that, if the parents drink fizzy drinks, children of 4-8 year old are three times more likely to do so than other children of the same age. This makes a lot of sense as fizzy drinks are normally very sugary, and children of this age generally have a sweet tooth.
While parents do influence their children to drink fizzy drinks, the opposite is also true; parents can also influence their children to drink healthy drinks such as plain water and fruit juices.
While more than 63% of children surveyed generally drank plain water daily, it is clear that parental influence can till hugely impact on their overall consumption; where parents drank a lot of plain water often the percentage rose to 87%.
Psychologist, Emma Kenny commented on the report:
“Every child is a copycat kid at heart and parents are their major role models, meaning they pick up on parents’ behaviour easily. As a parent it’s essential to provide your children with a healthy mind-set, ensuring they are making positive choices when it comes to selecting what their drink of choice will be.â€
Children’s nutrition adviser to the Natural Hydration Council and author of the report, Dr Emma Derbyshire, said:
“It’s not that surprising that what parents are drinking is having an influence on their children’s drink choices. However what is interesting is the extent to which habits such as drinking fizzy drinks are being mirrored by children.
The majority of parents are actively trying to encourage their children to have frequent drinks of plain water – but this report shows they must also consider that children may be more likely to be influenced by what they see their parents doing rather than what parents are telling their child to do. If you drink plain water rather than fizzy drinks in front of your child it may help to develop this habit.â€
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