Pester Power: Examining Children's Influence as an Active Intervention Ingredient

To determine if children's pester power related to a classroom-based nutrition program, Together, We Inspire Smart Eating (WISE), is related to familial dietary habits and parental food purchases and practices. Classroom teachers delivered weekly WISE lessons at 7 Head Start sites across 2 states in the southern US. Before and after the intervention, parents were interviewed on the consumption of WISE fruits and vegetables, intake of nutrient-poor foods, parenting practices related to food, and exposure to WISE through the child's pester power. After controlling for baseline levels of outcome variables, child willingness to try new foods at baseline, and the effect of state, pester power predicated significant variance in the outcomes of consumption of WISE foods (F3, 229 = 34.7, P < .001, ΔR2 = 0.03, P = .002) and parenting practices that support healthy dietary intake and attitudes for young children (F2, 264 = 77.2, P < .001, ΔR2 = 0.02, P = .006). The findings of this study highlight the potential for children's influence on food consumption and habits at home.