Oh, Great! Now That’s My Fault, Too?!
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
From the Men’s Health daily marketing rag newsletter:
Dads—looks like you influence your kids more than you think. According to an Australian study, children are more likely to mimic your diet and exercise routines than Mom’s.
The researchers looked at 165 overweight children over a 6-month period, and found children who lost the most weight had fathers who were engaged in new eating and exercise plans.
So I’m keeping a list of things good dads are supposed to do: listen to your daughters, protect them, provide for the family, create a safe environment, initiate boys through the stages of male development, hold, rock, and feed infants, and on and on. And that’s just the beginning. Looks like it’s time to add “don’t make them fat” to the list. (There’s a completely separate list for things good husbands are supposed to do!)
Now it turns out I have to give up Twinkies and couch time, too, because the kids might see me eating them and think it’s okay to sit around eating potato chips and watching TV, which they are naturally inclined to do anyway. As am I. Path of least resistance and all.
The blurb continues (sorry; my source doesn’t cite the original study):
Your plate generally has less vegetables and more meat than your wife’s, making her the “bad guy” and you the hero of the household. Also, fathers tend to act as the role models of the house—when they make their lives healthier, the whole family becomes healthier.
Okay, I think that first point is stupid. Four of my five wouldn’t notice if all their hair fell out and they’re going to notice that my plate has less vegetables than mom’s? Please.
Americans are the fattest people on the planet, with childhood obesity literally at epidemic rates (1 in 4 children in New York City public schools is overweight). This is what David looked like after a two month tour through the U.S. (brought to you by McDonald’s, KFC, and agribusiness). I don’t know what other factors are involved, but mistakes by parents appear to contribute to this trend in obese kids and the attendant health problems. I know a lot of parents who stock up on chips and candy and ice cream. (I’ll have more to say about this when I tell you about a cool book I just finished, In Defense of Food.)
Luckily, we do pretty well in this regard at Chez Five. Necessity early on trained us not to buy junk food, not to eat out too often. It also meant we didn’t buy video game consoles or cable TV. And we’ve kind of grown to like it that way even though we could afford to do differently now. As a result, our teenagers snack on carrots and Albacore tuna (and raw onions for Boy 13) and chat online for amusement—but only for an hour per day. No kidding. Yeah, they pretty much hate us. Still, I could lose about 20 pounds and I do a fair amount of sitting. Looks like I just gained 5 more reasons to change.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Hilarious photo!
I dunno Joe, I think this is simply what we already know: kids mimic their parents, and despite the study’s focus, they mimic both.
I think this kind of thing should encourage us to be the best we can be, rather than discourage us with undue pressure. No one can be superdad. But I can be a good guy, I can live with responsibility (which to me is the definition of adulthood), I can have vision for my kids and model what I see in that vision. That’s something to shoot for anyway…
August 21st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Excellent, Pete. I knew you’d have a healthier response than my knee-jerk reaction.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
You know? I still feel that most obesity stem from genetics. Environmental factors can definitely help though, like you said, stock up the refrigerator/table with fresh fruits and vegetables (cleaned and peeled!) and hide the junk food at work (if you must have junk food). =)
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I really don’t have any idea, Julia. You might be right about genetics. If I hid junk food at my sedentary job, I’d balloon like the national debt. Must…resist!