Irish Wedding News
10/05/2016
New research has revealed that more than 40% of parents give their children treat food – such as crisps, chocolate and sweets – at least once a day. The study, which has been commissioned by safefood, has been published to coincide with the organisation's final year of its three-year campaign to tackle habits that can lead to childhood obesity.
The research was carried out with parents in Ireland and it was found that 73% of respondents didn't consider food like crisps, sweets or chocolates they give to their children on a daily basis as 'treats'. In addition, children aged five and under were found to receive the most treat food – with 50% getting a treat at least once a day or more.
Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, Director, Human Health & Nutrition, safefood, said: "The stand-out disappointing result in this research is that we've seen an increase in the number of parents reporting giving food treats daily to children.
"Parents are really finding this difficult and these products are simply empty calories. Over-consumption of these treats, and there is major over-consumption, is a serious threat to our children's future health. As parents, we need to break the bad habits of giving these every day as it's now become the norm and not really a 'treat' anymore."
She continued: "One of the foundations of our campaign has been the honest and direct feedback from parents and they have told us that they consider this daily food treating as 'bribing up their kids'. They routinely give these to ease any difficult situations that arose during the day and to allow themselves a little more peace and quiet.
"However, parents also told us they are uneasy about this behaviour. Parents were also surprised to learn that crisps and biscuits fall into the treats category as these have been given as daily staples for example, after school or after dinner at home."
There were parents who said they had cut back on treats, however. Among those, the most popular ways to do so were to have treats on weekends only (30%), buying smaller-sized treats (23%) and restricting treats to every other day (23%).
"It is great to see that some parents report making these practical changes," added Dr Foley-Nolan. "Parents tell us that it's not easy to cut down on these treats especially when they are everywhere, are so cheap and children are used to overindulging in them."
John Sharry, CEO, Parents Plus Charity, and Senior lecturer at the School of Psychology in University College Dublin, commented: "It takes time and patience to break bad habits around treats and food – but the good news is it can be done. Learning to say No gently and firmly and focusing on positive healthy alternatives is the key.
"Make it a family project to become more healthy and happy – sit down with your children and plan out some positive changes you want to make together such as picking the alternative healthy treats you can have during the week."
(JP/LM)
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40% Of Parents 'Regularly Give Children Unhealthy Treats'
New research has revealed that more than 40% of parents give their children treat food – such as crisps, chocolate and sweets – at least once a day. The study, which has been commissioned by safefood, has been published to coincide with the organisation's final year of its three-year campaign to tackle habits that can lead to childhood obesity.
The research was carried out with parents in Ireland and it was found that 73% of respondents didn't consider food like crisps, sweets or chocolates they give to their children on a daily basis as 'treats'. In addition, children aged five and under were found to receive the most treat food – with 50% getting a treat at least once a day or more.
Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, Director, Human Health & Nutrition, safefood, said: "The stand-out disappointing result in this research is that we've seen an increase in the number of parents reporting giving food treats daily to children.
"Parents are really finding this difficult and these products are simply empty calories. Over-consumption of these treats, and there is major over-consumption, is a serious threat to our children's future health. As parents, we need to break the bad habits of giving these every day as it's now become the norm and not really a 'treat' anymore."
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She continued: "One of the foundations of our campaign has been the honest and direct feedback from parents and they have told us that they consider this daily food treating as 'bribing up their kids'. They routinely give these to ease any difficult situations that arose during the day and to allow themselves a little more peace and quiet.
"However, parents also told us they are uneasy about this behaviour. Parents were also surprised to learn that crisps and biscuits fall into the treats category as these have been given as daily staples for example, after school or after dinner at home."
There were parents who said they had cut back on treats, however. Among those, the most popular ways to do so were to have treats on weekends only (30%), buying smaller-sized treats (23%) and restricting treats to every other day (23%).
"It is great to see that some parents report making these practical changes," added Dr Foley-Nolan. "Parents tell us that it's not easy to cut down on these treats especially when they are everywhere, are so cheap and children are used to overindulging in them."
John Sharry, CEO, Parents Plus Charity, and Senior lecturer at the School of Psychology in University College Dublin, commented: "It takes time and patience to break bad habits around treats and food – but the good news is it can be done. Learning to say No gently and firmly and focusing on positive healthy alternatives is the key.
"Make it a family project to become more healthy and happy – sit down with your children and plan out some positive changes you want to make together such as picking the alternative healthy treats you can have during the week."
(JP/LM)
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