Parents who sit on the playground bench eating chips and texting really aren't encouraging healthy behaviours in their children. Researchers at Public Health Ontario set out to look at the relationship between parental support for their children's physical activity, healthy eating and screen time behaviours and the likelihood that their child was meeting Canadian guidelines for healthy living. Similarly, encouragement or positive reinforcement is also related to child and adolescent physical activity, perhaps by increasing children's feelings of competency. In the study, children were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines if parents said they took part in physical activity with them. But children were less likely to meet screen time guidelines when parents reported that the family watches TV together, the researchers said.

Source: CBC News August 24, 2016 00:22 UTC