My child is addicted to screens and snacks during summer vacation; how can I help them break the addiction before school starts?

With less than a week of summer vacation left, children's easygoing sleeping and eating habits all need to be adjusted quickly. The Child Welfare League Foundation suggests that parents should communicate with their children and re-establish a healthy daily routine, to avoid children refusing to go to school because they are addicted to the internet, watching videos or playing games; the John Tung Foundation also suggests that parents should cut off opportunities for children to replace proper meals with snacks or to eat high-calorie foods, and if there is an upper-grade schoolchild at home who loves to "lose weight," special attention should also be paid. (Photo above/provided by the Child Welfare League Foundation)

Child Welfare League Foundation: Nearly half of children have their own 3C devices, making summer vacation a time to "stream online and forget to return"

And the behavior of children eating snacks freely and not eating according to three meals during summer vacation also needs to be adjusted back before school starts. Chen Hsing-ho, deputy director of the Food and Nutrition Division of the John Tung Foundation, said that teachers have reported that children indeed become a bit fatter than at the end of the previous semester, but the key still lies in a regular daily routine and normal eating habits.

Chen Hsing-ho said, "Many middle- and lower-grade children live with their grandfathers and grandmothers during summer vacation, and grandfathers and grandmothers especially like to give small children snacks," or like in July of this year when fast-food businesses used the most popular "Minions" toys as meal giveaways to stimulate buying, all are major causes of children gaining weight; therefore the first priority of the back-to-school "settling-in meal" is to cut off this kind of fried, high-calorie food.

As for upper-grade children, special attention should be paid to "improper weight-loss behavior." Especially female schoolchildren who are more influenced by peers may go online to learn and try "weight-loss rumors" in pursuit of being "thin"; or directly go to drugstores to buy so-called "slimming foods" claimed to reduce weight. In addition, special attention should also be paid to whether the "breakfast" of children concerned about weight loss is eaten on time and in the right amount.

Chen Hsing-ho suggests that parents can agree with schoolchildren that the children must keep the receipts and outer packaging of chicken cutlets, snacks, drinks and so on purchased that day and hand them to parents for inspection before they will be given "pocket money," thereby keeping children away from unhealthy foods.