Poll Reports

1 in 5 parents don’t think it is important to limit junk food and fast food in their child’s diet. Parents’ biggest challenges around healthy eating include cost, convenience, and children’s food preferences. Nearly all parents believe childhood eating habits have a lifelong impact on health, but only 1 in 6 parents say their child’s diet is very healthy.

The top factors in parents' decision to keep a child home are concern that the illness will get worse or spread to classmates if the child goes to school. Parents are more likely to keep a child home with diarrhea, vomiting or fever, but send a child to school with a cough or runny nose.

1 in 7 parents did not put their toddler in a car seat for every car ride during their recent vacation. Only two-thirds of parents checked to make sure guns and other weapons were out of their toddler’s reach. Three quarters of parents remembered to put medications out of reach when traveling with their toddler.

1 in 6 parents report their teen has tried a gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian or paleo diet. Challenges include cost and time to prepare special diet foods, and dealing with occasions such as eating out or family gatherings. Nearly half of parents had their teen begin taking vitamins or supplements when they started a special diet.

Average total cost for the school year was $302 per student in sports, $218 for arts, and $124 for clubs. 27% of parents from lower-income families cited a drop in participation in school activities due to cost. 1 in 4 students from lower-income families did not participate in any school activities in 2015-16.

Most parents say schools should, and do, teach wellness, drug/alcohol abuse, and sex education. Two-thirds of parents say schools definitely should cover emotional/mental health, yet only one-third say it is currently covered. Over 60% of parents want students to learn basic first aid and CPR.

For black adults, racial inequities and school violence are the #2 and #3 health concerns – neither of which appears in the Top 10 list for white adults. Black adults are the only group with gun injuries and hunger ranked in the Top 10. Childhood obesity and drug abuse are in the top three “big problems” for white and Hispanic adults, but lower on the list for black adults.

4 of 5 parents are very confident that their tween will know what to do in a storm or fire if home alone. Only about half of parents are confident that their tween will not play with guns if home alone. Mothers and fathers have similar levels of confidence in tweens’ safety practices.

Child abuse and neglect was identified most frequently by the public as a child health priority for Presidential candidates. Alcohol/smoking/drug use, as well as nutrition, hunger, and obesity, were also child health priority areas for at least half of U.S. adults.

One half of parents reported their child had leftover pills from a pain medication prescription. Only one third of parents said that the prescribing provider discussed what to do with the child’s leftover pain medication.