New research into family habits in Ireland regarding food and exercise has shown that almost half of all parents prepare separate meals for their children.
The research involved parents ranging in age from 18 to 60 who have at least one child who was aged between one and 17 and featured a sample size of 505 families in the Republic and 307 in Northern Ireland.
• Up to 70 per cent of children are not getting the recommended amount of physical activity.
• Six in 10 parents find it a struggle getting their children to eat healthy food.
• Eighty per cent of parents feel their children do the minimum of one hour of physical activity per day, but kids now spend almost as much time watching TV and surfing the web.
• Only just over one in 10 parents spontaneously mentioned making changes to their own habits as a means of tackling potential obesity problems among their children.