Kids do pay attention to their parents

A new study in the US has shown that while children aged three to five years are influenced by ‘junk food’ advertisements, they are also influenced by their parents’ messages about healthy eating.

When shown a commercial for French fries and then given the choice of French fries or apple slices, only 55 per cent of the children whose parents encouraged apple slices before the kids watched the advertisement chose the fries. By comparison, 71 per cent of the children chose fries when their parents remained neutral.