Picky or inexperienced eaters? Time to re-think picky eating?
It was just before lunchtime, one day at the lovely childcare centre where I worked, I walked in to ask an educator a question, and saw 20 kids sitting on the floor in a circle.
Their educator was holding a bowl with fresh baby spinach leaves because spinach was the vegetable of the week as part of a nutrition education program I had designed. She was encouraging them to smell and describe the leaves' colour and shape. The children were touching the spinach leaves with tongs, and then one of them grabbed a leaf with her hand, put it in her mouth, got up and said yummy! Then her friend ate one and followed by another, the teacher and I were then watching a bunch of children, eating raw spinach leaves with excitement. I left the room quietly with a huge smile!
The teacher later came and told me that in her teaching career over 2 decades she had never seen any children willing to eat raw spinach leaves, and neither had I. What made them eat or try the spinach leaves on that day? Was it the nutrition program that helped them understand the benefits of eating spinach, or was it their cheerful, confident teacher who talked about the benefits of eating spinach with positive role modelling in their little one’s eyes? Was it the safe and bright room that they were in? Or maybe it was about being around their peers and not wanting to be left out? Perhaps that was not new to them because they had watched their parents many times adding spinach leaves to their smoothies or salads.
When we talk about kids and their eating habits, there is no silver bullet with one single answer. As adults, how many years could it have taken for us to put spinach on our dinner plate and our grocery list? For me, it was many! I remember growing up with mum making baked spinach and eggs with tomatoes once a week in winter. Mum used to follow a Mediterranean diet for the whole family naturally.
The way how we perceive spinach as adults is tangible, measurable and based on knowledge and experience that we had with it and this comes from family meals, education, habits, and beliefs about ourselves and the society that we belong to. Children in the early years of their lives are inexperienced eaters, and then they learn to eat. Everything is new to them! As they grow up, they discover tastes and foods and their preferences can change through their development phases. They need lots of contact with their hands, nose, eyes and ears before trying a new food!
They are busy learning so many things! They learn to walk, talk, and run, and as with any other learning experience, they need time, practice, understanding, and support from their caregivers to gain a positive relationship with food and eating. Fun, engagement, interaction, positive modeling, and encouragement are the essentials in this learning process. When learning to eat, it is also very important for children to decide what they eat and how much they want to eat. It can be worrying sometimes for caregivers to watch kids at the dining table, but this is the only way they can become independent and learn to trust themselves. Our childhood learning experiences shape what we like and how we eat. And we learn for a lifetime!
The switch between perceiving children as inexperienced eaters in the learning process instead of picky eaters can be a game changer in developing healthy eating habits among children, reducing both stress around mealtimes and concerns about picky eating.
