Role model
Children eat and move the way they see at home – parents' example often has a stronger effect than any rule.
Ausführlich erklärt
Children learn by imitating – and when it comes to eating and exercise, parents are the most important role models. What you do carries more weight than what you say: if you eat vegetables at dinner, drink water and put your phone away, you hardly need to say a word about it. If you tell your child to eat salad while you only eat pasta yourself, you're fighting against your own example.
Research confirms this: how much fruit and vegetables parents eat is one of the most reliable predictors of how much their child eats. In the KiGGS study by the Robert Koch Institute, children of parents who do sport do sport more often themselves. And children whose parents eat breakfast regularly are more likely to eat breakfast too.
Being a role model doesn't mean being perfect. It means making the behaviour you want to see visible and normal: sitting at the table together, talking about food with enjoyment, moving with pleasure, having a slice of cake now and then – without guilt and without comments about calories. Children adopt the attitude, not just the action.
Language is especially important: children hear phrases like “I need to lose weight”, “I'm so fat” or “I'm not allowed that” very clearly and apply them to themselves. Talk about strength, energy and taste rather than weight. If you'd like to lose weight yourself, do it quietly – healthier cooking benefits the whole family without any child learning the word “diet”.
And: role models are allowed to grow. Children love seeing their parents try something new, take up a sport or cook a vegetable for the first time. This sense of “we're learning together” is often more effective than a role model who can already do everything.