“At this point we can say there is an association but we cannot say exactly why,” Stacey Tiberio, the study’s lead author from the Oregon Social Learning Center in Eugene, told Reuters Health. The researchers write in JAMA Pediatrics that understanding the role of parental media monitoring is crucial in the development of obesity programs and interventions. Parents and children answered questionnaires, were interviewed and received physicals when the kids were five, seven and nine years old. The researchers found that when mothers reported spending less time monitoring their kids’ media consumption, kids tended be heavier at seven years old.