Chennai: The fact that working parents find it extremely difficult to spend quality time with their children and keep a watch on their eating and sleeping habits could impact kids’ health when they grow up, doctors say.
According to a New York study, the lack of a good relationship with parents may affect one’s health, as well as well-being during mid-life. The study also pointed out that if parent-child relationships are strained or abusive, meals may be less coordinated among the family, and the children are more likely to eat sugary or high-fat foods as snacks, which will therefore affect them in future.
“Eating habits evolve in the first few years of a child’s life. A child will understand what to eat, and when, only by observing the eating behaviours of those around them. If parents do not maintain a good relationship with their child or fail to spend time with them, the child tends to lose out on this important lesson in life,” said Counselor P. Nilam. “Parents play an important role in structuring children’s early experiences with food and eating,” she added.
The New York study also said it is very essential for parents to maintain a good bond with their child to enforce eating, sleeping and activity routines. “In most families, in our state, even today, women still have the primary responsibility of feeding their child. However, the changes in employment patterns and family structure, leave women with less time to devote to the same,” said nutritionist Dr. Sandhya P. “This can have an extremely negative impact in the individual’s health after a few years,” she added.
According to a recent study published in the Journal of law and ethics, a journal of the American Society of Law and Medicine and Ethics, ‘only 55 per cent parents eat breakfast daily with their pre-school children’. “When parents fight or if the home is filled with negativity, children tend to develop depression and that in turn, affects their eating habits,” said Nilam.
“If a child’s food habits are messed up, it can lead to the development of various Non-Communicable Diseases at a very young age. We tend to understand the importance of healthy eating habits only when we are into our middle age, and already on the way toward a number of chronic health conditions,” said health specialist Dr R. Srinivasan.
