Exploring relationships between the amount a parent serves themselves, how much they would serve their pre-school child and the amount their child would choose

Availability of larger portions has been linked with higher energy intake and weight gain in children. Child BMI percentile and energy intake is better predicted by the amount parents serve their child than children's self-selected portion size. We explored the correlations between a pre-school child's self-served portion size and the portion size selected by their parent for themselves and for their child. Participants (N=36) took part in a self-serving food task where they were asked to imagine that they were going to eat a test meal right now. Each parent was asked to serve two portions – one for themselves and one for their child. In a separate area, their child was asked to serve their preferred amount. The amount that a parent served themselves was positively associated with the amount that they served for their child (r=0.61), and with the amount their child self-served (r=0.39). A positive non-significant association was also observed between a child’s ideal portion size and the amount a parent served for their child. We were concerned whether the youngest children understood the self-serving task and we are addressing this in another study. Nevertheless, the findings highlight the need for sex- and age-appropriate portion size guidance for parents of pre-school children.