One Less Thing for Parents to Feel Guilty About
Kids will be kids, no matter how much tofu you offer them.
We parents take on a lot of guilt, and usually anticipate even more guilt as our children grow up. I can’t even guess how many times I’ve heard a parent say “he/she’ll have to send me their therapist’s bill in the future.” We worry that they are too protected. We worry that we’re not protective enough. We worry that we’ve allowed them to watch too much television or play too many computer games. We worry it’s our fault if they’re not popular, or smart, or polite. And these days parents are especially worried if our kids aren’t skinny enough. There has been so much press in recent years about how we should be feeding our children and the type of food to keep in the house that all the guilt for a slightly pudgy child has been dumped on our shoulders.
Today, happily, the results of a study has just been published in the “Journal of Social Science and Medicine’ that says there’s a weak link, at best, between children’s eating habits and those of their parents. There are many other environmental factors that influence a child that has nothing to do with their parents. Things like peers, school and television. So I suppose we can hang onto the guilt about popularity, education and television viewing habits, but at least we don’t have to worry about what we eat in their presence.
Comments
Got something to say?