I'm sure many of you have heard the current epidemic of childhood obesity and lack of fitness. I have many parents in my practice and many of them ask me about fitness and exercise for their children. My response is always two parts; 1) Yes, exercise will be great for your kids and 2) It starts with you.
Although I have been saying this for years now, this study reinforces the notion that good (and bad) habits can be contagious. Especially when it comes to children, their parents will be the biggest role models in their lives.
This study looked at the influence of our friend's habits and actions on ourselves, however it would not be hard to see how the same effect might influence child-parent interactions.
The researchers in this study took some very novel approaches to test one's self-control. The various methods involved testing one's level of self-control after experiencing or watching situations where they saw good, and bad self-control. An example was; a study involved assigning 42 people to list the names of friends with good and bad self-control. As the participants took a test designed to measure self-control, a name was flashed very briefly on a computer screen. Those who saw the name of a friend with good self-control did better on the test than those who saw the name of a friend with poor self-control.
The moral of the story was two-fold; one, was that your own self control could be influenced by your social network. So if you wanted to improve and enhance healthy habits, it would suit you to associate with people who already have those habits. (Obviously, this could also work if you wanted to impart good habits on to others, like your children. You would have to assume the role of the model, so your children could learn good habits from you).
The second message from this study was; Accountability. Meaning that others aren't just watching your behaviours, but can be influenced by them. A perfect example would be a woman who is trying to lose weight but lives with a partner who indulges in junk-food all the time and is a couch potato. Guess what, even involuntarily, the partners actions and behaviours may be sabotaging her efforts to improve her health.
Something to think about.
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