By Dinah Torres Castro
As parents we strive to be caring, supportive and informed when it comes to the best ways to feed our children. Before my children were born I already knew how I was going to feed them and what types of food I would provide. My children were going to have the most cultured palate this world had ever seen…I would expose them to a variety of foods from different countries and cultures. We would explore textures and flavors and savor the goodness of the bountiful earth eating whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, organic meats and international spices! The reality is that feeding our children is becoming more and more difficult. Not because we don’t have access to these wonderful foods but because there are other factors that come into play…media bombards our children with advertisements for junk foods—even children who have never stepped foot inside a McDonald’s restaurant can hum the latest jingle. Your child’s own food preferences may prevent them from enjoying the wonderful food journey you so carefully mapped out. And of course your own parenting style could be the key to the successful or poor feeding relationship you have with your child.
Parenting styles are how parents raise their children and can be categorized into four patterns based on two aspects of parenting behaviors: control (how much parents make demands on their children) and warmth (responsiveness). Parental control (demands) refers to the degree to which parents manage their children’s behavior and can range from being very controlling to setting few rules or demands. This control is measured by the parent’s high expectations of maturity, high parental supervision and willingness to confront inappropriate behaviors in children. Parental warmth refers to the degree to which parents are accepting and responsive of their children’s behavior as opposed to being unresponsive and rejecting. Responsiveness is measured through emotional support, warmth and meeting the child’s needs. When the two aspects of parenting are combined in different ways, four primary parenting styles emerge: Authoritarian, Permissive (Indulgent), Uninvolved (Indifferent) and Authoritative.
Studies have shown how parenting styles can influence children’s healthy eating. They found that parental use of positive reinforcement and monitoring was associated with children’s healthy eating and exercise. We will look at the impact of parenting styles on the feeding relationship in upcoming blogs as we explore the different parenting styles in more detail.
Dinah Castro is a Bilingual Family Well-Being Educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County’s Family Health and Wellness Program. She can be reached at 631-727-7850 ext. 351 or at dc258@cornell.edu.