"Kid-Friendly" is a Killer.

Can we agree to ban the term "Kid-Friendly" from the American lexicon?

It sends the wrong message, sets the wrong tone.

I'm going to go so far as to say that the term "kid-friendly" is killing our kids' eating habits.  (Have you seen the kind of crap that's called "kid-friendly?" Read The Truth About Child-Friendly Foods and Are "Child-Friendly" Foods Really Gateway Drugs?)

But even when "kid-friendly" food is, indeed, worth eating, the very idea that some food is "kid-friendly" is a mind killer. Read Mind Over Matter.

This tip sheet from ChooseMyPlate.gov isn't a resource, it's more like a roadblock.

The term "kid-friendly" denotes that there are 2 types of food in the world. 

• Food that is "kind and pleasant" to kids.
• Food that is "mean" to kids.

"Kid-friendly" makes kids and parents think that food should throw its arms around kids and give them a big, happy hug, maybe even a smooch.

"Kid-friendly" makes kids and adults wary of anything "serious" or "mature."

"Kid-friendly" makes kids and adults steer clear of healthy foods.

"Kid-friendly" undermines everything parents are trying to teach their kids about eating right.

Labeling some foods as "kid-friendly" is like telling your children there are some kids they should play with and some kids they should avoid. 

• Play with kids who are familiar.
• Avoid kids who look or act a little different. 

Kids have to learn to play in all sorts of playgrounds...with all sorts of kids. The same is true with eating.

"Kid-friendly" is a form of stereotyping.

It has no useful purpose (other than as a marketing tool). It makes kids exclude the bulk of the food world as "not for them."

I'm not saying that presentation doesn't matter.

Everyone enjoys an artful presentation.

But your expectations affect what you serve. Your expectations also affect what your kids will eat.  So open your mind.  It'll help your kids open their mouths.  Read Feed Your Kids Like a Chef—Cooking Optional.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Water vs. Punch and Soda

Two studies, same results: Serving water at meals and snacks makes kids more likely to eat vegetables!

Study 1: 

• Take a bunch of 3-5 year olds.
• Offer the kids a snack of carrot sticks and slices of red pepper. 
• One day offer the children Hawaiian punch to drink with their snack. 
• Another day offer the kids some water with their snack. 

What happened?

The children ate a larger portion of vegetables on the water day than on the Hawaiian Punch day.

And get this: the researchers noted that even after consuming only a small amount of the sweetened drink, the children were relatively disinterested in eating vegetables. 

Study 2: Take a bunch of college students and ask them how well soda goes with pizza, fries and vegetables. Then, ask the students to say how well water goes with these same foods.

On a scale of 1-5 where food/drink pairings DO NOT GO WELL=1 and food/drink pairings GO WELL=5. 

• Raw vegetables such as carrot or celery sticks go well with:
  • Tap water or plain bottled water: Average score=4.15
  • A cola beverage: Average score=1.83

•  Steamed vegetables, such as asparagus and broccoli, go well with:
  • Tap water or plain bottled water: Average score=3.20
  • A cola beverage: Average score= 1.93

In other words, if you’re drinking a cola beverage, you’re not going to think of eating vegetables.

Not surprisingly, the students thought that both French fries and pizza go well with soda: French fries average score=4.20, Pizza average score=4.17.

With water? French fries average score=2.86, Pizza average score=3.51.

Some explanations:

• Sweet flavors may not "sit well" with the less sweet taste of the vegetables.  Or...

• People come to expect certain food combinations like pizza with soda or punch. 

There are so many reasons not to teach your kids the habit of drinking sweetened beverages.

(And, in my opinion, juice should also be on the list. Read Coke Beats Juice.)

• Sugary soft drinks are the No. 1 source of calories in the American diet.  We get more calories from sodas and sugary drinks than any other individual food, including cake, cookies, and pizza.  Read this New York Times article. 

• When taste preferences for sugar, salt and fat are developed early in life, the stage is set for diets high in calories and low in nutrients.   Some research even shows these foods can be addictive.  Read Are “Child-Friendly” Foods Really Gateway Drugs?

 And now there's one more reason: Your kids will eat more vegetables. 

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Source: Cornwell, T. B. and A. R. McAlister. 2012. “Contingent Choice: Exploring the Relationship Between Sweetened Beverages and Vegetable Consumption.” Appetite  doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.05.001.

Feed Your Kids Like a Chef—Cooking Optional

If you want your kids to be stellar eaters, start thinking like a chef.

You don't have to cook like a chef—although I'm sure it doesn't hurt if you have the know-how—just think like one.

Bon Appetit recently asked a bunch of renowned chefs what they do to get their kids to eat right.  If, like me, you thought the chefs would talk, first and foremost, about the amazing creations they whip up to dazzle their little delights, you'd be wrong.

Instead, most of the chefs said they:

• Don't feed their children special "kid" food. 
• Expect their children to eat whatever is being served.
• Routinely expose their children to a wide variety of tastes and textures.

They sound a little like the French! Read Early Vegetable Variety: The French Advantage.

The chefs also talked about shopping, gardening, cooking and dining with their children, but these strategies don't constitute the core of anyone's eating "curriculum."

Read the article, Chefs: They're Just Like Us, the Parental Edition. 

In contrast...

The other day I was eating at Panera, and—sorry Moms for snooping— I noticed that all the mothers were eating some version of soup and salad.  All the kids were eating some version of bread and cheese.

• A bagel with cream cheese
• A grilled cheese sandwich
• Macaroni and Cheese

I'm not saying that chefs don't feed their children bread and cheese. I'm sure that they do. But the uniformity of the feeding choices across all the tables at Panera really struck me.  It made me wonder what we're teaching our kids.

Child-friendly isn’t just a kind of food. It’s a mindset.

I'm not going to talk about the nutrition of bread and cheese.  Suffice it to say that bread and cheese isn’t really a bad meal. It isn’t really a nutritional winner either.   Read What’s the Problem with Cheese? and La Crème de la Crème.

From a habits perspective, though, a steady diet of bread and cheese can be a disaster:

1. When kids eat a steady stream of bread and cheese, they want to eat… more bread and cheese.
2. When parents eat different foods than they feed their kids, children learn they should eat differently than their parents.

I know, you're probably thinking you don't feed your child bread and cheese that often. But what about bread and cheese look-alikes?

From what I see, most toddlers eat a steady stream of:

Toast, bagels with or without cream cheese, waffles, pancakes, muffins, cereal, grilled cheese, crackers with cheese, crackers without cheese, crackers that claim to have cheese, plain pasta, pasta with cheese, quesadillas, pizza, cheese sticks, string cheese...

Not exactly the chef's special, and all versions of bread and cheese. Read Pizza. Pizza. Pizza. and The Variety Masquerade.

Chefs know that eating is a matter of math.

• Kids like the foods they eat most frequently. Read Fruits and Vegetables at Every Meal and Every Snack—Every Darned Day.
• When kids eat a monotonous diet, they reject variety. Read End Picky Eating with the Rotation Rule. 

Chefs also know that when parents eat different foods than they feed their kids, children learn they should eat differently than their parents. Read Mind Over Matter

What your kids think they should eat is what they’ll want to eat. 

Not should in the broccoli way—you should eat this—but should in the “child-friendly” way—you should want to eat this because this is what kids eat. You can change all that.

Chef Suzanne Goin caters to her kids' taste buds and to their expectations to "sell" them new stuff.

[M]y kids LOVE Asian food so I use those flavors especially when serving something new or that I think they might not love (or that they think they don't love.)

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~