Table 3.
Themes and Selected Responses of Focus Group Discussions Among Parents of Overweight Preschoolers (N = 13) and Overweight School-Aged Children (N = 14).
| Theme | Parents of Preschoolers | Parents of School-Aged Children |
|---|---|---|
| Avoidance of wasting fruits and vegetables n = 8 (3 preschoolers; 5 school-aged children)a |
“They have a shorter shelf life and sometimes you get busy and you don’t prepare it and by the time that is back on the menu it goes bad, if you only go grocery shopping once a week” | “If I get it, and they don’t eat it all, it will go bad” |
| “It’s not necessarily that they are more expensive, but it feels that way when you are grocery shopping because there are other things that are going to last longer and be more filling than fresh fruits and vegetables” | “They go bad fast and it seems like you buy it and then you have to buy more” | |
| “I think one of the important things to keep in mind is that it has to have freshness, if it is a food that is going to rot or if it is going to go bad” | “Fruits and vegetables go bad fast and I am not going to get them if they go bad” | |
| Taste preferences of fruits and vegetables n = 30 (14 preschoolers; 16 school-aged children)a |
“She loves fruits and berries, but vegetables you have to force feed” | “She usually eats fruits for a snack after school and with lunch” |
| “He use to eat it and just grab it and chew on it but now he doesn’t touch it. But when he goes to a Chinese restaurant, he will eat it there” | “I think it is the taste, because vegetables are a lot harder than fruits and fruits are sweet but vegetables are different” | |
| “She eats peaches and yogurt” | “Mine doesn’t eat any vegetables” | |
| “Bananas would probably go fast in my house if I bought a large quantity” “I have a hard time keeping fruits in the house” |
“It’s all vegetables in the garden. If we had strawberries, then they would eat them. They are more prone to eating fruits” “Vegetables not so much, but fruits he likes” |
|
| “He eats pretty much everything like he is starving for whatever reason” | “My daughter’s appetite is up and down and what she decides she is going to eat” | |
| “We are incorporating more fruits and vegetables into foods, like tacos, shredding the carrots or zucchini and you mix it in with the turkey meat or mix it in beans” “I have been masking her vegetables. There’s a juice out of V8, but it’s masked as a fruit juice. She loves it” |
“I will make it one time and she will love it and the next time, she may not eat it” “My son, it just depends, sometimes he will like some things for a little bit and then his tastes will change. You have to drown it in cheese if it is something he normally eats, like broccoli” |
|
| Family influences n = 13 (6 preschoolers; 7 school-aged children)a |
“Me and his mom both, we go ahead and whatever we make stuff; we make fruits and vegetables and so we get it as a positive role model thing and we enjoy it.”b
“I would say I try.” |
“Us, parents” “Me, only because I am pickier than my husband” “For dinners, it is definitely me, because I buy the groceries” |
| “My dad. He lives upstairs. He has a big garden outside and my son helps him. My mom too. They watch him and if I work late, they will pick him up and help me out.”b | “Everybody wants to feed my kids junk food when I am not around. Like now, my kids are at Golden Corral with my mom and I have to tell her ‘one dessert’—don’t let them eat all the desserts because that it what they will do.”b
“Because they are their grandkids and you know, it is not going to kill them to have it.”b |
|
| “Process of Preparation to Plate” n = 18 (9 preschoolers; 9 school-aged children)a |
“Availability; sometimes the fruits they have need to be peeled and they can get their hands on them” | “You put it in a Tupperware and it is ready to go” |
| “If it is provided and it is on their plate, 95% of the kids are going to eat it” “Need to learn how to prepare new things” “I need recipes where I can hide vegetables in” “Have fruits instead of junk food” |
“You have to have it cut up and ready” “I would like to know how to prepare the vegetables in a healthy way that is good” “For me, not knowing how to prepare them is one of the main barriers” “I don’t know how to cook them very well” |
Note. Overweight is defined as body mass index (BMI)–for-age percentile ≥85%
a
n = total frequency of responses from parents for a theme which reflects the total number of times when parents mentioned the theme. The total frequency of responses (n) was further divided into the frequency of responses from parents of preschoolers and the frequency of responses from parents of school-aged children, which are presented in parentheses.
b
Differences in responses between parents of overweight preschoolers and parents of overweight school-aged children.