Investigation On Parents’ Knowledge,Belief And Behavior Of Children’s Snack Behavior In Urban Children Aged 3-6 Years ——A Case Study Of J City In Hunan Province

Snacks can be found in every family and the warmings of snacks are continuously updating.The snacks security is a great concern while the public is less clear about choosing snacks.Snacks play an irreplaceable role in children’s lives,and how to help children choose snacks becomes an important issue for the parents who are directly involved in children’s snack behavior.The research includes 553 parents whose children aged 3-6,3 teachers,and 1 headteacher of the kindergarten in county J through questionnaires,interviews of parents,teachers,and the headteacher.Descriptive statistics,nonparametric tests,crossover analysis are employed to analyze parents’ knowledge bases of children’s snack behavior,parents’ attitude towards children’s snack behavior,parents’ actions for children’s snack behavior.The findings of children’s behaviors are as follows:（1）the frequency of children’s taking snacks centers in 1-3 times a day with notable differences at different ages.（2）Children’s habits of eating snacks are unhygienic and hand hygiene prior to environmental hygiene which is followed by mouth hygiene.（3）The time during which children have snacks basically conforms to the rules of meal digestion,proving that snacks are a supplement to the meals.（4）In the items of snacks,milk/yogurt and fresh fruits stay at the top,while ice cream,chips/ french fries,and other snacks that are limited in amount are still popular among kids.The findings of parents’ knowledge bases,attitudes,and actions are as follows:（1）Due to parents’ limited "knowledge basis of snacks",children obtain their snacks still in a bad manner.（2）Parents lack the knowledge of "children’s snack behaviors".75%of the parents are ignorant about Guidance on Snacks for Chinese Children and Adolescents,and they have a messed source of the "knowledge about children’s snacks" as they lack the ability of learning and the official channel of obtaining knowledge.（3）parents’ attitude（inclination）towards children’s snacks has deviated due to their knowledge about snacks.Most parents allow their kids to have snacks,but they are strict with "children’s snack behaviors" since they are unable to clarify the ingredients of snacks.Half of the parents recognize snacks as a form of reward.（4）Parents fail to guide their children on snacks.It is important for parents to learn useful guidance strategies due to the effect of knowledge bases of and attitude（inclination）towards snacks.In this connection,the author coordinates with the kindergarten in conducting family-kindergarten education,class of short videos,and other methods to improve the parents’ knowledge basis of "children’ s snack behaviors" in hope that parents’ attitude（inclination）and actions will be leveled up,which ends up in the overall improvement of parents’ knowledge,attitude and actions for "children’s snack behaviors".