from the Natural Foods blog -
The American Child’s Amazing Shrinking Palate by Anna Soref –
It’s a scene from many an American dinner table: Mom and dad are enjoying typical dinner fare, say a piece of fish with rice and steamed green beans. At the same table, Brother and Sister are dipping chicken nuggets and ‘tater tots in ketchup.
When did kid cuisine become a norm in America? When did we start believing that children require “kid food” just like pets require pet food?
Growing up in the 1970s I had SpaghettiOs and Kraft mac and cheese, but it was the exception, not the norm. Every parent is entitled to shortcuts on busy nights. That’s not what I am talking about. I am referring to the belief that kids can’t eat “grownup” food, they require “kid food”—carbohydrates, sweets and animal protein, milk and orange cheeses and for the adventurous, a narrow assortment of fruits (bananas, apples oranges) and vegetables (peas, carrots and corn).
In watching parents through the years (I have an 8-year old) I’ve witnessed those who subscribe to this belief system. “Oh, he won’t eat anything green” or “We have to make him a separate meal every night, he wouldn’t touch what we have.”
When my daughter was a toddler, I watched the majority of parents give their kids the same tastes and textures repeatedly, primarily in the forms of salted and sweetened carbs—think Goldfish and Honeynut Cheerios. The savvy parents doled out organic versions of these.
I recently spoke with Dr. Alan Greene who has done research on our kids’ dwindling palates. He found that there is a 36-month window when we can imprint (yes, like ducks) on certain foods. The key though, is that it takes six to 10 exposures of a food to imprint; in his research he found that 94 percent of American families gave up by the fifth try.
So what’s the take-away here for retailers? In addition to offering healthy convenience foods for kids, offer family meal cooking classes, bring in speakers who can discuss toddler nutrition and stock quality books that address the importance of a varied diet for children.
February 1st, 2010 - 6:55 pm
I have a hard time with the six-10 exposure thing. But then again I think consistency is one of the hardest things to develop in parenting.
I recently spent some time mulling over my kids eating habits and decided to get them more involved in the preparation process. I have never been one to prepare separate meals for them, honestly I don’t have the time or money to do that. But my 4.5 yr old is loving playing a bigger part in the meal and he is much more likely to try foods when he has made them himself. Plus it teaches me patience and to let go of things having to “look perfect”.
April 16th, 2010 - 9:59 am
This is so true– I remember sitting with my first daughter, then just under a year, splitting a plate of California rolls. Nobody could believe that she would eat something so “grown-up.”
Kids will generally eat what they are offered, but I also agree that persistence pays off. I’ve been blessed with some adventurous eaters, but even so there were a few things that took them MONTHS to eat. Sandwiches, for example… I always made their sandwiches with lettuce and tomato, and the lettuce and tomato always got picked off. (which was fine– we don’t force food) Then one day, months later, I realized both girls were eating their sandwiches whole.
I think the “kid food” comes from this base parenting fear of our kids starving. Of course they like Mac N Cheese better than salmon, and we wouldn’t want them to NOT eat, so we give in. It helps a lot to come to terms with that basic instinct to make sure our child is well-fed, realize that a healthy child will NOT starve if their junk food is taken away, and let them choose from healthy “adult” foods when they are hungry enough to eat it. It’s SO much easier to start when they’re little though– I can’t imagine the struggle to switch eating habits when a child is older than 3 or 4. That would take some serious dedication!
July 8th, 2010 - 11:27 pm
i was also home schooled when i was younger and it is also a great weay to get your education.*’-
July 22nd, 2010 - 8:17 pm
i was home schooled too but i would still prefer regular schools.:-.
August 24th, 2010 - 6:41 am
Oh puuuhlease. They won’t eat kid foods forever. If the kids don’t want to eat what we’re eating, they can definitely eat something else. They can make it themselves. I refuse to make dinner into some sort of battleground with “you can eat it or starve” as the battle cry. And I just laugh at the 10x exposures business. I’ve exposed my kids to items 10, 20, 30 times and no go. I’ve done a “you must try one new item” ploy. If I made mistakes in their early years, well, there you are. Congrats to the parents who navigated this so perfectly. I like a lot of foods I despised as a child. I remember throwing up from my mom’s well-intentioned insistence that I “try” certain foods. Meanwhile my kids slowly add more grown up foods and healthier foods. Like, one a year.