London - There's apparently a new secret to get your child to behave at the dinner table - cut up their food and they'll relax.
This is according to a new study that found that when children had to bite foods with their front teeth - as opposed to eating food that had been cut - they were rowdier.
Researchers found the children were up to twice as aggressive when eating chicken on the bone.
The new Cornell University study was published in Eating Behaviors.
It found that when 6-10 year old children ate foods they had to bite with their front teeth - such as drumsticks, whole apples, or corn on the cob - they were rowdier than when these foods had been cut.
“They were twice as likely to disobey adults and twice as aggressive toward other kids,” said Brian Wansink, Professor and Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
During a 4-H summer camp, a youth organisation in the US, 12 elementary (primary school) children were observed for this two-day study.
On the first day, half of the children were seated at one picnic table and were given chicken on the bone that had to be bitten into with their front teeth
The other half were seated at a nearby picnic table and given chicken cut into bite-sized pieces.
On the second day, the conditions were reversed.
Each day, two camp counsellors instructed the children to stay inside a circle with a radius of 2.7 metres.
Both meal sessions were videotaped and evaluated by trained coders who indicated how aggressive or compliant the children were, and if they exhibited any atypical behaviors, such as jumping and standing on the picnic tables.
Results from both the counsellors and coders' observations indicated that when children were served chicken on the bone, they acted twice as aggressively and were twice as likely to disobey adults than when they were served bite-sized pieces of chicken.
The children who were served chicken on the bone also left the circle without permission more frequently and were more likely to jump and stand on the picnic tables.
Along with Wansink, the research was conducted with Guido Camps, now at Wageningen University and Research Center; Francesca Zampollo, now at Auckland University of Technology; and Mitsuru Shimizu, now at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
In conclusion, the researchers note that when children need to bite into food with their front teeth, they are more likely to get rowdy.
“If you want a nice quiet, relaxing meal with your kids, cut up their food,” according to Wansink.
He had different bottom line advice for school lunchroom staff: “If drumsticks, apples, or corn on the cob is on the menu, duck!” - Daily Mail
BORN TO EAT - ARE CHILDREN WIRED TO PICK UP FOOD AND EAT IT?
Research by the Institute of Cognitive Sciences in Bron, France says babies have a habit of picking things up and putting them in their mouths.
This, they say, is an ability learned from birth.
The findings were made by stimulating brains of people undergoing brain surgery.
The scientists were able to make nine out of 26 patients unconsciously move their hand to their mouth.
This suggests that our motion of moving our hands to our mouths, perhaps to consistently supply us with food from a young age, is something that is wired into the circuitry of the brain.
Even when in the womb, foetuses are known to suck their thumbs, a precursor action to actually putting food into their mouths.