Get Out Of The Habit Of Using Food As A Reward
If we have any hope of our children living longer and healthier lives than us, we must do something about childhood obesity. One in three children are obese and obese children are likely to be obese adults, with chronic diseases like diabetes and at risk of dying ten years or more before their time is up!
Food as a reward is a tradition we must break now!
Using food as a reward for good behavior, good test scores, as a soother of hurt feelings and skinned knees sends the wrong message: that food is a source of comfort. That message stays with children throughout life. For example, how many times are there donuts at the office to help you get through difficult times? If we are going to wipe out childhood obesity, parents and teachers must control what children eat and we should begin by not using food as a reward.
It’s hard for us to see the harm in rewarding children with food, but the fact is that it does exist. Consistently rewarding a child with food instead of with love or other intangibles creates problems that you and they will have to deal with later on in their lives. It is better to find other ways of coping early on, before such behaviors become entrenched in your parenting style. This is an especially difficult behavior to resist because we all have grown up with these unhealthy behaviors. It’s part of our fabric.
Rewarding children with candy or food,
- Encourages over eating of food high in sugar and fat.
- Teaches children to eat when they’re not hungry.
- Teaches children to reward themselves with food.
- Teaches children to connect food with mood.
- Contributes to poor health.
- Undermines healthy habits.
It’s okay to offer your child food rewards from time to time as long as you can keep it under control. If it’s done spontaneously and unexpectedly, so that your child doesn’t learn to predict or expect it, it can actually be quite useful. Offering a child a cookie to stop a tantrum in a public place is much more likely to be effective, if they still regard the cookie as a rare treat.
Teachers have a role to play, too.
Research has shown that healthy children learn better. To provide the best learning environment for children, schools must provide an environment that encourages healthy behaviors. Finding alternatives to food rewards is an important part of providing a healthy school environment.
Teachers, instead of food or candy, reward elementary school children with extra recess, stickers or school supplies, a fun video or reading a special book out loud to the class. How about rewarding middle school children with a five minute chat break at the end of class, a field trip or a fun video? For high school students how about a reward with extra credit or bonus points, reduced homework or donated coupons for book stores, video stores or movies?
As parents and teachers we must all do our part to promote a healthy lifestyle for our children. After all, we wish nothing but the best for them which cannot be accomplished without good health.
References:
- http://healthymeals.nal.usda.
gov/hsmrs/Connecticut/Food_As_ Reward.pdf - http://www.momswhothink.com/
behavior/food-as-a-reward.html - http://www.betterschoolfood.
org/
