Half of parents admit lockdown has led to more treats for kids — Dr Noctor’s 5 tips on how to cut down
Many parents and guardians are finding it hard to say no to treats during the pandemic Picture: Pexels
While many parents and guardians want to reduce treats such as crisps, chocolate, and biscuits for children, many find saying no difficult and this has been exacerbated during lockdown.
That’s according to new research from the START campaign which found that working from home and having children in the home more often has left parents finding it harder to reduce the amount of treats their children consume — with half admitting their children are consuming more crisps, chocolates and biscuits since the onset of the pandemic.
As a result, safefood, HSE and Healthy Ireland have launched a campaign aimed at decreasing the amounts of treats parents give to children and to give them less often.
Sarah O’Brien, HSE national lead on the START campaign said the recommendation from the Department of Health’s Food for Life guidelines, is to limit treat foods to small amounts once or twice a week for children over five and no more than once a week for children under five.
But this is “far from the norm,” she says, and the marketing of these types of products is so widespread that many parents struggle to stick within the guidelines.
Parenting expert and child psychotherapist, Dr Colman Noctor, said it is important for parents to go easy on themselves if treats have gotten out of hand during the pandemic.
“When we were trying to pacify, reward, entertain, and even just be kind or compassionate to our children, food-based treats were the only thing we had.
“We couldn't go to the cinema, we couldn't go to Smyths... it became the currency of guilt, the currency of boredom and the currency of compassion.”
While parents shouldn’t feel guilty about the number of treats their children may be consuming at present, Dr Noctor said it is time now for us to start working on reducing the amount.
“But trying to get it back on track is tricky,” he acknowledges.
“If you hurt your knee, we'll give you a sweet, if you finish your dinner, we'll give you dessert, but if you're bold you don't get the treat. Treats have an emotional meaning and we don't want children to have this reduction in treats and interpret it as something they've done wrong.”
Offering things like crackers and cheese, instead of chocolate biscuits or plain popcorn instead of crisps, a low fat yogurt or fruit instead of a chocolate bar.
It's important not to give this message of 'good' and 'bad' food. There's only good and bad amounts of food and it's all about health, not weight.
Use a trip to the playground or a book they'd like to read as a treat. Now that things are open again, we can go back to the drawing board and include non-food-based treats more.
Getting children to take some ownership over how they snack helps them to self regulate and helps them to get better at making choices
Agree on what treats your child is getting before you go. This puts less pressure on you to have to manage the tantrum on the spot. Before you go in to the shop, explain to your child 'if you're good and if we manage to get around this shop, at the end of it, I will get you that' so the boundaries are set beforehand.
- Parents can find more tips and advice on how to talk to children about treats, reduce treats and achieve moderation at makeastart.ie
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