【推荐1】While it is known that parents control the dietary choices of their children during early childhood, the increasing independence experienced during adolescence brings with it more freedom when it comes to food choices. This time of life also brings enormous physical and emotional changes in a young person, which is often associated with an increase in comfort eating, or eating as a means to relieve stress. A recent study investigates how various feeding practices used by parents impact the emotional eating behavior of adolescents.

The initial study was conducted in 2017 with 218 families. Additionally, data collected in 2013 were also available. One parent from each family completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire, as well as the Child Feeding Practices Questionnaire, and both adolescent and parent completed the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. The adolescent’s body weight and height were measured by researchers. The four years between 2013 — 2017 covered the years from late childhood to mid-teens.

The study found that when parents used food as a reward, or restricted and monitored an adolescent’s access to food, this was associated with an increased tendency by the adolescent to use emotional eating as a strategy to deal with their emotions. On the other hand, involving a child in meal preparations had the opposite effect — it was associated with higher levels of emotional regulation and lower levels of emotional eating in the adolescent participants.

Additionally, the researchers found a negative link between the extent to which parents restrained (克制) their own eating behavior and the use of emotional eating by their adolescent children. This means that the more a parent limited his or her own consumption of food for the purpose of health or dietary goals, the less the adolescent child used emotional eating as a means of regulating his or her own emotions.

According to study lead author Joanna Klosowska, restrictive parenting was most damaging, whereas restrained eating by the parent seemed to be the most beneficial. “Additional research is required to understand the way in which restrained eating demonstrated by a parent impacts the emotional eating of a child,” said Klosowska.

【推荐1】Going on a road trip? These games will help you pass the time.

This popular family card game is equally fun to play while traveling. The objective is to be the first person to get rid of all your cards. Just don’t forget to shout “Uno!” when you’re down to your last card.

Keep in mind: This version of Uno incorporates graphic symbols on the cards so players with colorblindness can play too.

Product details: Number of players: 2 to 10|Ages:7 and up| Minutes to play a round: 15

Wooden pucks and a wood case make this portable hockey board game ideal for car trips, camping, or spending a cozy evening in a cabin. It involves a simple sling that fires wooden pucks across the board at your opponent’s goal.

Keep in mind: The Portable Puck Shot game is a bit large and heavy, making it more suitable for a road trip than for carrying onto a plane.

Product details: Number of players:2|Ages:6 and up |Minutes to play a round:5

This travel card game is a great way to kick off singalongs in the car or hotels after a long day of travel. The game involves drawing cards with one word, prompting each player to sing a song containing that word. If a player messes up the lyrics or can’t think of a song in time, they’re out.

Keep in mind: Not everyone is into singing outside of the shower, so consider your audience of fellow players before bringing this one along.

Product details: Number of players: 2 and up| Ages: 16 and up | Minutes to play a round: 15

Popular on TikTok, this puzzle game comes with over 500 puzzles and a timer, challenging family members to use problem solving and spatial reasoning skills to beat the clock in time.

Keep in mind: This game requires two AAA batteries to operate.

Product details: Number of players: 1|Ages: 7 and up| Minutes to play a round: 15 to 30

【推荐2】The return of sports during the pandemic (大流行病) has been one of the fewest saviors for many people over the last year. It offers a sense of hope that, one day, things will return to some sort of normality.

The same is true in the world of esports (电子竞技), an industry that has played some of its biggest and most great games behind closed doors over the past 12 months.

René Romann is a huge fan of Team Liquid, a leading worldwide professional esports organization. “Following my favorite organization has provided relief during such difficult times. It’s interesting to see this online family, this Liquid family, and how we can help each other in certain situations, especially in this pandemic,” Romann told CNN Sport.

Studies show the number of esports fans rose rapidly and, with everyone stuck indoors due to the lockdown (封控), TV viewers increased again. “Keeping fans attracted is important for an organization like Team Liquid, which says its supporters are at the heart of everything it does,” Team Liquid’s CEO, Steve Arhancet, said. His team regularly sent handwritten letters and called fans over the phone in order to encourage that community feeling. It was something that he said had been extra important during such tough times.

“When you’re able to provide that kind of care and consideration for a family member or a friend or someone that you just care about, why is it different for a relationship between the sports team and its fans? It should be the same,” Arhancet told CNN Sport, “I think a lot of other teams take it for granted. They just assume that fans could just watch the content and that’s enough. It isn’t. Sports teams have to care, to listen and to remember. ”

【推荐3】“The opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression,” says play researcher Stuart Brown. “The adult-play shortage is becoming a public health crisis.” Play may appear insignificant, but recent studies indicate it may be as essential as the need for sleep. Playfulness helps some young animals learn to master their bodies and their environments — and once they do, most stop playing as adults.

“Adult play promotes qualities that we humans could use more of,” says Jeff Harry, a play consultant. Unfortunately, social standards restrain (抑制) our urge to let loose. “Being a playful adult is really disapproved in our society,” he says. “You don’t want people to think that you’re childish.”

“It hasn’t always been this way,” says Peter Gray, a play researcher at Boston University. When Gray reviewed descriptions of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes, he noticed that they were often described as “good-humored” and “joyful”. “What we would call work — hunting and gathering — was fun,” he says. “Generally speaking, we like to do the things that are necessary for our survival. Humans took one giant step away from fun when we started planting crops. Then we invented factories and lost sight of play entirely,” Gray adds.

We may be able to reverse this situation, says Harry. As we fully make the transition to a knowledge-based economy, work and play are beginning to merge (合并) again. Some of today’s most successful companies, such as Google and Apple, were started by people tinkering (小修补) in their garages.

“Play is all about looking at a tough world with creativity and optimism,” Brown says. He goes so far as to declare that “adult play is necessary for our survival as a species”.

The next time I’m caught playing, I know exactly what I’ll say, “I am not wasting time, or acting immature. I’m playing for the benefit of all humanity. You’re welcome.”