Does Strict Parenting Really=Overweight Kids?
According to Disney Family Parenting, “Your parenting style affects your child’s weight and whether she will be overweight by first grade, a new study found.
“Children of authoritarian parents had five times the risk of being overweight compared to children of authoritative [a more diplomatic style] mothers,” said Dr. Kyung Rhee, a clinical instructor and research fellow at Boston University School of Medicine and the study’s lead author.
Authoritarian parents are described as strict disciplinarians, Rhee said, while authoritative parents are more respectful of a child’s opinions and thoughts while maintaining boundaries. Two other parenting styles were evaluated by the researchers: Permissive, in which parents are indulgent and don’t practice discipline, and neglectful, in which parents are emotionally uninvolved and don’t set rules.”
*The findings appear in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics.
If this is true, we are about to have a bunch of fat kids! My husband is 200% Authoritarian and I am a hybrid combo of Authoritarian and Authoritative. Sure, we take our kids’ thoughts and opinions into consideration when making a decision regarding their lives, but when all is said and done, our word is law and shall be abode by…period. Are we always right in our choices? No. Sometimes, we look back and wonder why we decided to take certain routes. However, we do not let children who lack the knowledge that comes with real life experience, dictate rules and help set boundaries. That is our job. It is also our job to teach them to respect those boundaries and understand the meaning behind the rules.
I just have a hard time understanding the logic behind such a statistic. If I were to give my children more leeway, they would trample me like a herd of elephants. If given the choice to eat chicken or Twinkies for dinner, you bet your bottom dollar that they will pick the Twinkies, every time. Children are not capable of thinking of long term consequences and basing decisions on them. As they get older and exhibit the competency to base decisions on such things, we will reevaluate the weight of their opinions in making such decisions. Until then, “Eat your veggies, get to bed on time and no…you do not have a choice in the matter!”
Tags: Authoritarian, authoritative, discipline, eating, familes, health, Negligent, nutrition, Parenting, Permissive, rules, statistics, studiesRelated Stories
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4 opinions for Does Strict Parenting Really=Overweight Kids?
Marye
Jun 21, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Overweight children are created by too much t.v ,too much computer, too much crap for food.
Idiotic statements like this make me frustrated…
8 kids. My oldest is overweight by 25 lbs at age 26 after having 2 children. I fight to keep my 5 year old above 35 lbs. The rest are thin to normal because they work hard, play hard, and eat real food.
And you can ask them. I graduated with honors from mean mommy school.
kadi
Jun 21, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Preach on, Marye! You said it :)
that girl
Jun 23, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Maybe other factors made the difference? Like maybe the ‘really’ strict parents didn’t allow a whole bunch of play or rowdy behavior (?) which might have accounted for a lot of un-burned calories? I don’t know.
Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.
Jun 28, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I don’t believe that parenting style alone is responsible for a child’s overweight. In fact, studies show that adopted children have BMIs very similar to their biological parents’ BMIs; their BMIs are completely unrelated to their adoptive parents/siblings BMIs. It seems that family factors are not anywhere near as important as genetic factors. Of course, everything contributes to the problem.
Life is very hard for an overweight child. I am a pediatrician and I run a child weight management program in New York. I have a daily blog on which I post suggestions for helping your overweight child become healthier. Feel free to read my blog for helpful tips! Also, please ask any questions that you may have.
Joanna Dolgoff, M.D.
http://www.childweightlossmd.blogspot.com/
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