Guelph childhood obesity program led to happier parents

A program designed to help parents of preschoolers curb childhood obesity also ended up helping reduce the stress of moms and dads and helped improve their child's overall behaviour, a study from the University of Guelph found.

The study by lead researcher Kathryn Walton involved the Parents and Tots Together nine-week program, where families were invited to take part in an evening meal and while the children did crafts or played games, the parents discussed issues with a community worker or dietician.

• Child obesity at highest level in Canada and U.S.

"Parents are really the major influencer for young children and so to change the behaviours of preschooler children, you really need to engage the parent. So Parents and Tots Together focused on both parents and children and how we can improve healthy behaviours in the home environment," Walton told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

Parents, children discussed same topics

The sessions were about 90 minutes totwo hours long. The meal was, in part, incentive to get the families to come to the sessions after a long day at work but also a way for those running the program to model some meal-time behaviours.

After the meal, the parents would watch a video about the weekly topic then take part in a moderated discussion.

The children would play a game or do a craft, but they would also talk about the same issues the parents were discussing.

"So when parents learned about how to know if their child is hungry or full, so listening to those hunger cues, we taught children to tell their parents when they're hungry or full," Walton said.

The study actually found, though, that the session had "minimal influence" on children's weight-related behaviours and body mass index.

"It would suggest that maybe with more focus on the health behaviours, you would see more change there," Walton said.

Parents created a community

Nine weeks is a long time to take part in a study, and Walton said researchers were surprised many parents didn'twant to leave the program when it was completed.

"Parents got to get together weekly and really sharestories and problem-solve together, so it really was a nice community for the parents participating in this program," she said. "They learned a lot from each other."

The researchers were also surprised when they did a follow-up interview nine months later andparents reported back that they felt less stressed and more confident about their roles in the family andtheirchildren's overall behaviour had improved.As well, 87 per cent of those who took part said they'd recommend the program to a friend.

Preschool age best for prevention

Rates of childhood obesity are on the rise in Canada and Walton said they wanted to develop a program for younger children as a preventative measure.

"The preschooler age is a really important time to prevent or to see reduction in that excess weight gain. We generally know that by age six, children that are suffering from overweight or obesity will generally be overweight as teens and young adults," she said.

Walton said they are looking at expanding the Parents and Tots Together program to be able to offer it at workplaces. They found when sessions were held at a manufacturing plant in Guelph, more fathers came out.

As well, researchers are now taking the information collected from Walton's study which has been published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health and using it as part of the ongoing Guelph Family Health Study.