Food waste: when children educate their parents
- Business Science Institute
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
(Article originally published on January 23, 2025, on the website The Conversation France)
Professor
IUT Sceaux, Paris-Saclay University
Associate Professor
IUT Sceaux, Paris-Saclay University
Professor
IUT Sceaux, Paris-Saclay University
“To be honest, I never really thought about it: wasting, not wasting, I never really asked myself the question until my children brought it up themselves.” Jacques is 42 and admits it openly: when it comes to fighting food waste, his two teenagers, aged 14 and 15, are the most scrupulous members of his household. This contrast within the same household is neither rare nor insignificant.
Of the 9.4 million tons of waste produced throughout the French food chain in 2022, one-third comes from the consumption stage (the phase when food is used or consumed by households): each French person wastes an average of 30 kg of food per year, 7 kg of which is still packaged.
This trend remains clearly unfavorable, even if changes in food waste are not easy to measure within households. One of the objectives of the anti-waste law for a circular economy (AGEC), which aims to reduce household waste per capita by 15% by 2030, therefore seems very ambitious. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need to take action on this problem, which is in fact controllable, at least in part.
Numerous regional, local (school) and national initiatives are now demonstrating a collective awareness of the issue. As the last link in the waste chain, families remain a key player to be mobilized in the fight against waste.
However, within the same household, different members may sometimes diverge in their actions and intentions, and influence each other.
How? This is what we sought to find out through a unique study involving interviews with members of 48 French families of various compositions, from rural, urban, and suburban areas and from various socio-professional categories. Seventy-nine individual interviews (including 33 with adults and 46 with young people from primary school onwards) enabled us to clarify several points.
Children educate their parents too! Food waste, a reverse socialization issue
Two forms of socialization within families emerge around practices related to food waste: first, traditional top-down socialization, where parents pass on their values and practices to their children.
“Sometimes my son doesn't finish his plate, and usually what's left ends up in the trash after I scold him.” (Célestine, 44, single mother of a 10-year-old).
We are also seeing a new form of socialization, known as reverse socialization, where children, albeit in an uneven and heterogeneous manner, influence their parents' behavior. Adam, 12, explains how he shared what he learned in science class with his parents.
“For example, I talked to my parents about what can be recycled and what can still be eaten even if it's damaged or has holes in it. My parents also learned things from my class, such as which tomatoes are still edible.”
Jacques, 42, father of two teenagers aged 14 and 15, is delighted about this:
“In fact, it's all about educating young children at school, teaching them what they need to do to protect the planet. [...] I'm glad the school is doing this. I might even end up caring about it myself.”
Food waste is not easy to measure within a household.
Our study also identifies three approaches to food waste within families. Around 40% of parents adopt a “structured” approach, where waste is minimized and controlled mainly for economic reasons. Nearly 35% of families opt for an “explained” approach, actively involving children and parents in reducing waste for environmental and educational reasons. Finally, around 25% of families demonstrate an ignored approach, where food waste is rarely discussed, often due to a lack of interest or awareness. These behaviors can be motivated by a variety of reasons (economic, environmental, or social concerns).
A structured approach to waste
In some families, food waste is therefore controlled through strict meal management, where every detail is carefully planned.
Here, there is no question of leaving plates half empty: quantities are planned in advance according to everyone's needs and appetite, with a clear goal of not throwing anything away. While waste is not always addressed directly, it is under parental control, more often dictated by economic concerns than by environmental considerations: "There's no glory in wasting food.
So it's not complicated: when I cook, I think about quantities, I fill their plates according to the children's ages and how hungry they are. I know them, after all! We don't have a lot of income, so we're not going to double the waste. You just have to give them the right amount. If I see that it's not enough, I'll cook more next time. For me, success means planning properly. We can talk about it afterwards, but first we have to manage it. That's our role as parents." (Moussa, 30, married, father of a 13-year-old teenager).
This strict upbringing also has an impact on the children, who learn to adjust their own behavior. As Tom, 10, explains:
“Well, mealtimes are fine. We eat well. We stay at the table. We're allowed to ask Mom for a little more, or Dad, but we have to leave our plates empty. I have to be careful because if I don't like something, I still have to finish it. So I often choose less and then I can have seconds if I still want some.”
An explanation of the approach to waste
In some families, reducing food waste becomes a collective project in which every member is involved: discussions about quantities, meal choices, and mutual awareness are part of everyday life. Young people actively participate and learn simple ways to limit waste, as Clara, 14, explains:
“My mother taught me how to measure out the right amount of rice or pasta. If I'm alone at lunchtime, I know how to use the rice cooker. That means less food goes to waste, and I'm happy.”
Parents themselves are adopting a learning attitude, particularly through the influence of their children or school initiatives:
“Last year, the school organized educational activities and shows about the planet. The show was called La Famille Poubelle (The Garbage Family). All the sets were made from recycled materials, and the children taught me the song ‘Pollution is bad.’ We all have to be careful [...] We watched the video later at home, and it gave us a chance to talk about it.” [Waste] must be taught in school and instilled in the youngest children, who are the future," says Alexia, 34, married with a 9-year-old child.
This horizontal approach promotes mutual transmission and encourages compromise within couples.
An approach to waste that is ignored
In other households, food waste remains a rarely discussed topic. Parents may see food waste management as a constraint or a loss of freedom. For Raphael, 29, father of two young children aged 3 and 7, the proliferation of rules can even become annoying:
“They make a big fuss all the time. ‘Put that in the trash... No, not there!’ Frankly, I don't care.”
Children and teenagers, although sometimes involved, perceive a certain lack of interest on the part of their parents in these issues. Marine, 15, says:
“When I eat and don't finish, my mother doesn't necessarily ask me to finish my plate. It almost annoys her to talk about it.”
In these families, public discourse is often perceived as guilt-inducing or disconnected from their realities.
Families resistant to injunctions?
Some families, around a quarter of our sample, described as “resistant,” reject institutional injunctions around the fight against waste. They denounce excessive pressure and guilt-inducing discourse. Fabienne, 54, mother of two teenage girls aged 12 and 15, criticizes what she perceives as a transfer of responsibility:
“If the government took a stronger stance on overproduction, people would pay more attention.”
For others, such as Loubna, 21, the efforts made are considered pointless in a society where overconsumption remains omnipresent:
“We consume too many finished products that provide no nutritional value. It's not advertising or hype that will change things, but individual reflection.”
These three approaches illustrate the diversity of family dynamics when it comes to food waste, ranging from active collaboration to accepted indifference and rejection of imposed norms. This reflection reveals how much this issue remains a societal challenge that goes beyond family boundaries.
Five ways to reduce food waste in families
Reducing food waste in families requires concrete and targeted action. Here are five ways to get everyone involved:
Leverage social influences. The fight against food waste is a collective effort. Let's mobilize families with practical tools: educational games, batch cooking (a method of cooking at home based on preparing a single batch of different dishes to be served over the following days), or collaborative projects in schools, such as photo albums of meals without waste.
Change habits. Simplify everyday actions: nudges, food exchange apps, workshops with local partners (farms, cooperatives). Schools can be key relays for passing on these practices.
Motivate everyone. Stimulate engagement through social or financial rewards: anti-food waste meal competitions, school challenges, or community activities reinforce individual and collective motivation.
Create positive emotions. Promote anti-waste actions with fun, guilt-free communication to combine pleasure with sustainable action.
Make the impact tangible. Show the results of efforts: visits to recycling plants, communication of savings achieved, or food distribution drives give meaning to initiatives.
Every action counts. Involving families, with the support of schools and local authorities, is essential to bring about lasting behavioral change.
Watching the interview with Amélie Clauzel on the IQSOG program - Fenêtres Ouvertes sur la Gestion (Open Windows on Management) with Xerfi Canal.
