NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT COMMUNITY PROFILE DONATE YOUR CAR! Need to get rid of your car, truck, or motorcycle? Consider donating it to Denver VOICE. Call (855) 500-7433, or go to: careasy.org/nonprofi t/denver-voice. Your donation helps Denver VOICE succeed in its mission to provide individuals experiencing homelessness or poverty the chance towards a more stable life. PHOTO COURTESY OF VITOLDA KLEIN ON UNSPLASH IMPROVING CHILDHOOD NUTRITION BEGINS WITH PARENTAL MODELING, RESEARCH SUGGESTS BY KELLEY GULLO WIGHT AND PEGGY LIU MOST PARENTS, EDUCATORS, AND POLICYMAKERS agree that children should eat healthy foods. However, our peerreviewed paper suggests that the strategy adults often use to achieve that can sometimes backfire. Fortunately, there is an easy fix. We, along with fellow marketing scholars Lingrui Zhou and Gavan Fitzsimons, conducted five experiments with over 3,800 parents as well as 10 in-depth interviews. We found that parents tend to choose unhealthy foods for themselves after choosing a healthy meal for their young children. This happens because parents are uncertain whether their child will eat their healthy dishes, and so they use their own meal as backup to share to ensure that their child at least eats something. This dynamic is not ideal. It could result in parents eating unhealthier foods, and children may also end up eating unhealthily if they eat mostly from their parent’s plate. Additionally, it does not set a good example of healthy eating. How, then, to change this dynamic? After testing several interventions, one stood out as particularly simple and effective: nudging parents to think of their meals as their own, rather than backup options for their children. We partnered with a nursery school that was interested in promoting healthier eating among children. Parents associated with the school were offered a free family dinner. Parents first chose a meal for their child from a healthy children’s menu. They then chose a meal for themselves from a menu that had a mix of healthy and unhealthy options. Half of the parents – randomly assigned – saw a menu that prompted them to think of their own meal as “for you and only you!” The other half did not see this additional prompt to think of their own meal as only for them. This intervention was successful: by encouraging parents to think of their meal as their own, it made about a third more likely to choose the healthy option for themselves. Our findings suggest that policymakers and schools may want to consider the role that parents – and their food choices – play in efforts to encourage healthy eating among children. As for parents, we suggest nixing the backup plan and ensuring that both you and your children are eating nutritiously. ■ Courtesy of The Conversation / INSP.ngo VOLUNTEER WITH US! We are looking for volunteers to help with paper distribution and basic offi ce administration at the Denver VOICE offi ce (989 Santa Fe. Dr.), as well as event support. If you are interested and would like to know more, contact us at program@denvervoice.org. June 2024 DENVER VOICE 11 The Denver VOICE empowers homeless, impoverished, and transient individuals by creating job opportunities through our vendor program. We facilitate a dialogue addressing the roots of homelessness by telling stories of people whose lives are impacted by poverty and homelessness and to offer economic, educational, and empowerment opportunities for the impoverished community.
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