Controlling parents more likely to have obese children (time to relax a little, maybe?)

We all know that bad food choices, huge portion sizes and a lack of physical activity are all factors that can affect children’s risk of obesity. But were you aware that your parenting style might play a part too?

According to researchers at Concordia University in Montreal, who studied how parenting styles and social environment affect children’s risk of obesity, it turns out that children who's parents are controlling and demanding are more likely to be obese than children with parents subscribing to a more relaxed method of parenting.

The study found that preschoolers with “authoritarian parents” (described as “not responsive but demanding”) were 35 percent more likely to be obese than those with “authoritative” parents (described as “both responsive and demanding”). For school-age children, this rose again, and the likelihood went up to 41 percent. So while you think you might be doing your child a favor by being strict and overly controlling, turns out they could be missing out on learning how to self-regulate when it comes to food and food-choices.

“It could be that a controlling parenting style essentially overrides a child’s own internal satiety and self-regulation signals, so that when the opportunity to overindulge is presented and the child is not being monitored, the child is less able to self-regulate,” professor Lisa Kakinami, who headed up the study, explained.

"Another theory is that a controlling style may increase stress levels in the child, which has also been linked with obesity. It’s likely that the answer is not simple, and several different factors are likely interrelated.”

More than 37,000 children took part in the study, which proves there is no doubt that the family environment is extremely important when it comes to trying to  turn the tide for the millions of kids facing an overweight future.

So telling your kids to 'clean their plate' might not be such a smart thing to say after all, and the researchers instead urged parents take a look at how they interact with their kids when it comes to eating, choosing, and serving food.

"Maybe try to enforce rules slightly differently, with warmth and a more open dialogue," Kakinami explains.

Do YOU tell your kids to clean their plates? Would you reconsider it having read this? Join the conversation with us on Twitter at @HerFamilydotie