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Parents Paying More Attention to What Kids Eat

Maybe it’s due to the constant stories in the news about the obesity epidemic, or the natural concern as parents we feel for out children. Whatever the reasons, a study is showing that parents have been paying attention to what their kids are eating when they are looking at the menu.

It seems that when a menu shows the nutritional information, it gets attention.  This is great news and leads to parents making better options for their kids. 

But parents don’t restrict their own energy intake, according to the report, which joins a growing body of work on the effects of menu labeling.

For the study, researchers randomly assigned 99 parents of 3- to 6-year-olds to one of two groups. Both were shown McDonald’s-like menus and asked to choose foods for themselves and their kids. However, one group’s menu included the calorie content next to the price for each item.

On average, parents whose menus did not list calories chose a meal of about 670 calories, while those who did have that information chose a meal of 570 calories.

(Source)

However, they aren’t showing the same attention to themselves. While this seems to be a trend in parenting, if we want to set up kids with good habits for life- we should start posing with the examples we want our kids to follow.

Image by Paull Young via Flickr

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