Disciplinarian Parents have Fat Kids
Parents who are strict disciplinarians are far more likely to end up with children who are fat by age six, probably because the youngsters over-eat as a reaction to stress.
The report from Boston University School of Medicine also found that the fewest weight problems occur among children whose parents are “authoritative” — having high expectations for self control but respectful of a child’s opinions and who set clear boundaries.
The study also found that children of parents who are permissive, defined as indulgent and without discipline, also have weight problems but not to the degree of the offspring of strict disciplinarians with low levels of sensitivity, the study said.
Researchers also found that children of neglectful mothers and fathers, those who are emotionally uninvolved with no set rules, fared about the same as kids raised by permissive parents.
“Among the four parenting styles, authoritarian parenting was associated with the highest risk of overweight among young children,” concluded the study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“These results provide evidence that a strict environment lacking in emotional responsiveness is associated with an increased risk of childhood overweight,” the study said.
“A parent who is relatively insensitive to the child’s emotional needs and development may impose a structure, such as requiring that a child clean his or her plate, that results in learning to eat on the basis of external cues rather than internal cues,” the report said.
In addition, if a parent demands that a child exercise, it may result in an aversion to exercise, it said.
And living in a home with high expectations for self control but little sensitivity can be stressful it added, and overeating can become “a stress response.”
- Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on Disciplinarian Parents have Fat Kids.
In this study done by the Boston University School of Medicine, it looked at four different types of parents and children. The first group was, strict disciplinarians that were very authoritarian over there children and were not sensitive to the children’s emotional needs. The second group of people were parent that were authoritative and had high expectations for self control, but did respect the child’s opinions and to set clear boundaries. The third group was the parents of children that were permissive and they let the children indulge without any discipline. The fourth group was the neglectful parents that were emotionally uninvolved with no set rules.
The results were the second group, which was the parents that were authoritative but set high expectations, but did respect the children’s opinions, they had they fewest weight problems of all. The second fewest were both the parents that were indulgent and did not discipline their children, those children still had weight problems but not to the degree of the disciplinarian parents with the low level of sensitivity and the parents that were neglectful and emotionally uninvolved, then of course the first group had the greatest weight gain for the children, were the the disciplinarians. Now what you can learn from this study is that parents that are insensitive to the child’s emotional needs and opinions, they put stress on the child and that stress, whether requiring the child to clean their plates, or just learning to eat because of they’re told to eat instead of listening to their bodies hunger cues, this caused more weight gain. When the parent demanded the child to exercise this resulted in possible aversion to exercise. So what you can take home from this study is very simply this, you have to treat your children with sensitivity, with compassion and caring and also with some boundaries and guidelines. The boundaries and guidelines are very simple as you saw in this study. The family, the parents that did set guidelines and boundaries, did have discipline but also listened to the child’s emotional needs where most balanced, and that balance showed up as the least amount of weight gain. Another thing we would like to add in this study is however you want your children to be, will be a reflection of how you, the parents are. So, if you want to do the best thing you can do to raise your children, then work on your total health. Because the more balanced you are in body, mind and spirit, the more balanced your children will be and you can begin those steps right now by living the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health™ which are:
1. Air—you are not deep diaphragm breathing to oxygenate your body.
2. Water—you are not drinking 32 ounces of distilled water per 50/lbs per body weight per day.
3. Food—you are not consuming a diet of living/raw plant food which has the highest energy, bioelectricity, enzymes and bioavailable nutrient content to either maintain or restore your health.
4. Sleep—you are not sleeping 9.5 hours with 3.5 of them before midnight.
5. Exercise—you are not exercising 30 minutes every day.
6. Fasting—you are not fasting from the normal Standard American Diet (SAD).
7. Prayer—you are taking the time throughout your day to regularly still your mind so you can hear the voice of God spoken into your heart.
As you live these 7 Basic Steps, you will transform and your children will start to be transformed because of your transformation. Children model their parents, positive and negative traits. So, if you want to see a child become healthy, then you become healthy and don’t make them do what you do do, but teach them, guide them and show them each step of the way.