Table 3 Quotes from focus group discussion

1. General parenting practices

Anger

“I sometimes really feel sorry for those children! If you hear parents say: ‘You can beat him’. Then you think…” (Father)

“You even sometimes see them beating their children! I already saw some horrible things happening at the school gate…” (Mother)

2. Physical activity

Increasing intrinsic value

“Sometimes, walking is boring for a child. Then you try to sing songs or to make walking more fun by playing a game.” (Father)

Obliging

“Our children are member of a sports club and it has already occurred that they say ‘I don’t want to go anymore because he or she doesn’t come’. Then we oblige them and just say ‘We paid for these sport lessons, so you have to go.’” (Mother)

Motivating your child

“If there is an activity of which I know that she really likes to do it and that’s the reason they don’t want to go anymore – that somebody drops out – then we would first try to convince her to persist.” (Father)

Rewarding

“At school, they really stimulate to go to school in an active way. Every year there is a ‘cycling period’. If they come by bike to school in that period and they wear a helmet and a fluorescent vest, they get a stamp… that stamp and the trading stamp book… yeah, I sometimes really have the impression that children need a lot of stimuli and motivation. It all has to be framed and something has to be done with it. A trading stamp book, a lottery, a gift if they win,… I think all those things matter.” (Mother)

3. Sedentary behavior

Rules and agreements

“I think that’s comparable to watching TV. Once you forbid it, they want to watch more.” (Mother)

Monitoring

“We use an alarm clock in the kitchen, a kitchen timer, and when it goes off, it’s finished. We really have to do this because otherwise a discussion gets always started. I let my children put the kitchen timer on themselves… And when it goes off and they don’t want to stop, I say: ‘Either you stop right now, or you don’t play on your Nintendo for the rest of the week’. End of discussion.” (Mother)

Offering alternatives

“Or I propose them to help out, and if they did so, then we do something nice together. […] suggesting an alternative, so they don’t have to watch TV. That works for them.” (Mother)

4. Healthy diet

Being a role model

“They will prefer a biscuit over a piece of fruit. Actually, as a parent you should set a good example to your child, but yeah, that doesn’t always happens.” (Father)

Obliging

“We just apply the ‘tasting’ rule. They just have to taste. And if they don’t like it, they don’t like it and then they don’t have to finish it. But they just have to taste.” (Mother)

Availability

“… in weekends, and halfway the week, you buy fruit so you always have fruit available. That way they eat fruit.” (Mother)

Using dessert as a reward or punishing by withholding a dessert

“What’s on the plate, has to be finished. And if it’s finished, they get a dessert. If something stays on the plate, no dessert. So, only rarely they don’t finish their plate because they absolutely want a dessert.” (Mother)