Preschool children’s food problems and food‐related caregiving techniques

Abstract

Staff working with preschool children 3±5 years of age in child care centres for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the commonwealth of Virginia (USA) rated children's food problems and caregiving techniques of families in their programme. Children's food problems of greatest concern identified by the first staff group were liking fast foods (69%) and not tasting new food (63%), measures related to the`picky eater' description (r = 0 . 41 and 0 . 71 respectively). Frequently reported caregiving techniques reported in the same survey were`let the child watch too much TV' (73%),`make the child clean the plate' (33%), and use food for punishment or reward' (25%). Caregivers reporting parents punishing the child for not eating also tended to check for problems of providing excess cookies and cakes (r = 0 . 39) and not eating vegetables (r = 0 . 43).Similar findings were confirmed in a second survey. Problem food behaviours appear to be related to not exposing children to food choices and to inappropriate television viewing and caregiving techniques.Ratings for caregiving techniques from: 1, none; 2, small number; 3, a moderate number; 4, a large number.

University students’ food preference and practice now and during childhood

“…A positive relationship between early parental controls of eating in late adolescence was found in this research, and the findings are supported by another study (Branen & Fletcher, 1999). Researches show that food choices and nutrient imbalances may be explained by parents overfeeding children, letting them eat too often and too much, and encouraging them to eat more than they seem to want through snacking, cleaning their plate (Hertzler & Frary, 1999).…”

“…Those who rarely were picky eatersÕ mean BMI was significantly higher than the mean of those who often were picky eaters. The problem might be that mothers were not providing nutrient dense food choices for the children in meals and snacks (Hays, Thomas, & Olvera, 2001;Hertzler & Frary, 1999). This may be because of mothersÕ low education level in this study.…”

“…The findings of the current survey implies that specific present food practices such as picky eating, eating dependence on moods, eating more, playing with food, using food for reward were dependent on the student having been fed that way as a child, showing that childhood food practices persists until now. Students defined by mother as picky eaters may be described by their food choices: eating the same thing with little variety, not trying new foods or vegetables, wanting high calorie, high fat choices (Auld & Morris, 1994;Hertzler & Frary, 1999;Reed, 1996). Those who rarely were picky eatersÕ mean BMI was significantly higher than the mean of those who often were picky eaters.…”

“…Parents need information on appropriate (attitudes, beliefs, skills) and inappropriate (reward, punishment) care giving techniques (Hertzler & Frary, 1999;WHO, 1998). In children familiarity was proven to increase preference for various foods (Birch et al, 1982), especially preference for fruit and vegetables increase with exposures.…”

“…The questionnaire was modified from those used in previous studies for mothers and students contained 18 questions, 8 of which measured eating practices (Hertzler & Frary, 1999), and 10 questions measured food preferences (Branen & Fletcher, 1999). The questionnaires were assessed using a Likert-type scale of 1-5 (where 1 = never and 5 = often).…”