Do socioeconomic factors play into children’s picky eating behavior?
That’s the premise of a recent Atlantic article, provocatively entitled, “Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods.” It drew on new research by Caitlin Daniel, a doctoral student at Harvard, who last week wrote her own New York Times op-ed on her study’s findings, “A Hidden Cost to Giving Kids Their Vegetables.”
Daniel spent two years studying 73 families of varying income levels in the Boston area to determine how they decided what to feed their children. What she found was that low-income parents feel they can’t afford to keep buying foods their kids are likely to reject, such as vegetables, and so fall back on the less nutritious foods they know their kids will eat. As a result, low income kids have fewer opportunities to become accustomed to those more challenging foods, while children in more affluent families are offered the multiple exposures almost all kids need to overcome initial picky eating behavior. Here’s an excerpt from the op-ed:
For the poor parents I met, children’s food rejections cost too much. To avoid risking waste, these parents fall back on their children’s preferences. As the mother of the 3 year old said: “Trying to get him to eat vegetables or anything like that is really hard. I just get stuff that he likes, which isn’t always the best stuff.” Like many children, her son prefers foods that are bland and sweet. Unable to afford the luxury of meals he won’t consume, she opts for mac and cheese.
TLT reader Katherine Weber (author of Bite This! Your Family Can Escape the Junk Food Jungle and Obesity Epidemic) first emailed me the Atlantic piece with some thoughts of her own, which she’s allowed me to share here. She argues that a child’s picky eating doesn’t necessarily mean food has to be wasted. She wrote:
As a parent feeding a family – including one very picky and unpredictable child – I face this challenge all the time. But I would never throw away good, nutritious food that I had bought and cooked just because the kid turned up their nose at it! (All the more so if I were on a tight budget.) I eat it myself or put it in the fridge for another meal tomorrow. It certainly does not go to waste.
. . . in healthy family eating, the whole family eats the SAME healthy diet. If the kid doesn’t eat their portion of broccoli, then someone else will. It’s a marginal amount of food we’re talking about. So where is the waste?
I completely agree with Weber, but her argument does presuppose that low-income parents are willing to eat the healthier food their children may initially reject. As Daniel notes in her op-ed, “Parents’ preferences are also part of the solution. When parents eat foods from apple to zucchini, they can offer children a bite with less risk of waste.”
But what if that’s not the case? I recently wrote a piece for a forthcoming issue of Sugar & Rice regarding a promising program here in Texas which brings free produce to needy families on a weekly basis. And one thing I learned through my interviews is that low-income parents often worry that they, too, won’t like unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, so they’re afraid to buy them. One interviewee told me, “We got to try stuff [through the program] I would never think of buying because of the price. You don’t want to spend money on new things in case you might not like them.” Another added, “You miss out on a lot of fruits and vegetables if you can’t experiment. You tend to just stick with the same old stuff every week.”
Meanwhile, Daniel’s piece inspired a slew of reader letters which appear in today’s Times, ranging from agreement with her premise to arguments that parents just need to take a firm stance with kids and refuse to offer alternatives to the family meal. They’re all worth reading, as is Daniel’s entire piece, which also offers some ideas on how to remedy this problem.
And let me know what you think, too, either in a comment below, or on TLT’s Facebook page.
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Chris says
We spend more money on food (over $1000/mo- and that is with shopping sales/discount stores etc) than anything else by far. We have food allergies in 3 of the four family members. Kids will eat stuff, you have to be creative.. I found that my grrls as toddlers/preschooler age wouldn’t touch many healthy food items when I sat them down with their own plate- but would beg bites from my plate of healthy food.. So I began making myself huge portions of food and feeding the baby birds so to speak as they popped around me begging for bites!! Problem solved, plus, they eventually ate the same food as us on their own plates. My 12 yo is very good at self monitoring and reading labels and avoiding her allergens..
and yes, you have to model healthy eating, if you are chowing down on junk whilst asking kiddo to eat green stuff- it won’t fly.
Madeline Vann says
Well, we are not low income, but I do get aggravated by the food waste when kids won’t try new things. On the other hand, one doesn’t have to give them a huge adult serving of a new food if it’s just to try it, so there shouldn’t be all that much waste. You can share a new fruit, offer a portion of your veg, or whatever. BUT low income households do operate on extremely tight budgets, so getting the biggest bang for your buck is important. Time is a factor, too – many low income areas are also “food deserts” so the effort of trying to go to a place where there is a wide variety of fresh produce, or grow it yourself in some guerilla gardening fashion, would be considerable and, again, a lot to ask when time and budgets are stretched. Here in our area, Trader Joe’s gives whatever fresh produce they have when they change out their stock to a food pantry for parents of food insecure elementary school children (the produce is still fine, just not ‘top notch’ enough for display, I suppose) and I would think that is helpful. It is important to be able to try the food without fearing a loss of time and money, at first.
Justin says
While I don’t agree with the conclusions of the study (there are way too many other reasons that could be a contributing factor–you’ve pointed out one of them and I can think of at least one other), I’m glad you’re showing studies and discussions that amount to more than just, “Stop giving them a choice,” or, “Offer it early on and they’ll eat it,” and “The French don’t have a ‘kids menu.'” Why? Because frankly, it’s just not that simple…
We’re what I would call a middle-class family, though we have had to do our fair of penny pinching to get through a couple of unemployments, pay for daycare, and cover the cost of our higher-than-we’d-like mortgage. I’m a foodie who loves to cook and eat and when we decided to have a child, I made all the right comments and assertions like, “MY child won’t get a choice. She’ll eat what she’s served or starve. No chicken nuggets in this household,” and, “I believe that if I offer her tasteful food from day one–what we’re eating, she’ll develop a good palate and enjoy a wider variety of foods.”
Then, life happened. And we had a child who had a will of her own. 😉
It started off well. When she started on solids, we chose Oatmeal over Rice Cereal because it’s tastier. I made all her purees from scratch and she’d let us shovel just about anything in. It seemed great. Then, she started with finger foods (feeding herself) and discovered “crunchy stuff.” One of her first words was even, “Cracker,” which meant pretty much anything from crackers to chips to rice cakes. If it was crunchy, it was for her, and suddenly, she had an opinion about what I was putting on her tray.
But the real problem (in hindsight) was a combination of a bunch of things we didn’t foresee and didn’t have a ton of control over. First of all, Daycare in this country has a bad habit of feeding children about every 2 hours. They wake-up and may eat before leaving the house. Then there’s “morning snack” at around 9am which usually is bordering on a second breakfast. They feed them lunch at 11:30, then put them down for a nap and feed them an “afternoon snack” at 2:30 or so when they wake-up. My wife only works until 4pm and would pick her up and take her home. At that point, her little 2-hour eating schedule would kick-in and she’d be wanting more food. Rather than give her yet another snack she really shouldn’t need, my wife would feed her dinner–on her schedule, not ours (since I’m the primary cook and start dinner when I get home at 5:30 or so). Because she was eating alone, she got to eat something convenient, microwavable, usually from the freezer. It was probably homemade by me and frozen, so it was nutritious, but that’s not the point. She got to choose it…like sitting down at a restaurant. She got in a habit of eating what she WANTED rather than what was available to her.
Now, she’s 4 years old and we’re fighting a hard battle to reverse the pattern. We’ve gotten her to eat on our schedule but we’re still battling the fact that she eats so much all day long that she doesn’t want a full dinner. And when she does sit down to dinner, she thinks she can order-up what she WANTS, not what’s on the table–even if I prepare something I know I’ve seen her eat before, its, “I don’t LIKE that…” Which his hogwash. She doesn’t PREFER it, and as a 4 y/o, she doesn’t get the difference. So there are tears and yelling and general frustration all around. Add in the fact that we allow her dessert after dinner if she eats (which I feel is a fair bargain under normal circumstances), and we have her basically eating just enough to get to the dessert course or “trying a bite” (rolling it around in her mouth and making gagging noises) and then still asking for dessert and us having to decide when she’s met the qualifications or not (which frankly, isn’t a clear line). I could just say no dessert, but then how do I teach her when treats are appropriate and when they’re not when they never are. And so on…
My point is, simply, that there are a number of reasons our kids get stuck in a rut of eating the same foods over and over or not eating what’s being served–and those reasons are different for each family depending on their unique circumstances. And it’s not always foreseeable until it’s too late. We went into it with good intentions and our two-working-parent lifestyle with daycare got in the way and we had a problem on our hands that we didn’t even know was growing.
If we want to solve this problem, we need to stop making parents feel bad for making the choices they make–or for the choices they HAVE to make–or for not being able to be that stay-at-home parent who can control everything that goes in their kids mouth. Most of the choices are made with good intentions with the resources we have available to us. And every kid is different, too. Some kids have way more stamina to withstand the, “eat it or starve,” routine than others. Mine sure does. I’ve sent her to bed hungry and she frankly, doesn’t care half the time, because daycare has fed her too much all day long, so she’s not really hungry. Until morning, when she’s ravenous, and I don’t have the time to re-offer her her dinner from the night before because we need to get out the door for daycare and work. And the cycle begins over again. 😉
Which is another final point. For many working parents, the only meal of the day you have full control over is dinner. Breakfast is either rushed, on-the-go, or something that can be packed to go to school or daycare (so it’s usually a carb-based convenience item or cereal). Lunch may be packed from home, but you have no control over what they actually eat or don’t eat and teachers often throw-away the remainder. So that leaves us with dinner to teach them the good habits they really need to learn over the course of a full day of meals. It’s just not that simple…
mommm!!! says
I went through something similar when my own child was introduced to highly processed products at preschool. Suddenly, my child who never fussed about food…EVER…was giving me a hard time at dinner. Im stubborn, so I dug in. Fussing at dinner in my house guarantees a bowl of microwaved canned spinach for breakfast. For lunch. And for dinner. Which is eaten alone. Without the company of me at the dinner table. It crushed me. But it worked and it worked swiftly. Good luck…it was painful but I havent had to buy canned spinach in over a decade.
Jennifer Haubrich says
The program you are involved with sounds like a great solution to the problem of how to break bad (or limited) eating habits that run in families. As is well-known, kids will do what we do, not what we say to do! It’s really about breaking the cycle.
There is also the hurdle of knowing how to prepare different types of produce that needs to be overcome with education.
It would be interesting to see a study that examined how middle income feeding patterns effect how children eat. People that have enough, but not a lot extra. Personally I only ever offered one meal because it was cheaper and easier! (And yes, my husband and I would both “help” them finish their plate if something wasn’t a hit.) Now that my kids are 7 and 9 I can clearly see the benefits of this approach. They never even think to ask for something other than what is served because it was never introduced as a possibility!
mommm!!! says
Me too. I think because I grew up with…you eat whats in front of you because there was nothing else. For us that was literally. You didnt have to eat it if you didnt like it, but there literally was nothing else.
Wendy says
It’s not perfect, but there is absolutely something to the Atlantic piece. I have taught cooking to both youth and adults in food insecure environments. When the food budget is that tight, many parents perceive that there’s no margin for error.
While I might not have offered a second meal to my children if they didn’t like what we had, they had the option to have peanut butter, or more of the other part of the meal that they did like, or more the next day. We privileged parents can say “they’ll eat if they’re hungry enough” and know that they will eat the next day and they will not go hungry.
What I was told by some of the parents I taught was not so much that they worried the children wouldn’t like what they made, though there was that, but that they might just not cook it right or well and it would be objectively bad and no one would want it and they would have to eat it regardless and be miserable. There would be no ordering in a pizza because the lentil experiment failed. Or if the children wouldn’t eat it, they might actually go hungry.
This is one reason why they liked the cooking classes – they could practice with new ingredients, vegetables, and spices without risk. They could taste the end product and gauge whether they thought their kids would accept it. And in some programs, go home with more of those same ingredients so they could try again at home without risk. If given the vegetables, they would be happy to try to have their kids eat them. But, if their grocery budget, or food pantry selections are a zero sum equation, they fear taking an unknown as it might mean not taking a known.
As another commenter said, education is key. Many food banks try to pair recipes with groceries that they distribute to help with this situation. Likewise, Cooking Matters classes can help with confidence in the kitchen. The program you mention in Texas, Bettina, sounds great!
In teaching youth from food insecure homes, I have actually found most to be open to trying new foods, even unfamiliar vegetables. Many complain that the school meals, even the burgers or pizza (which my school district offers ad nauseum because they think it’s all the kids will like) are “gross” so they are usually happy to come to our classes and make new and interesting dishes. They generally try all the delicious, somewhat healthier foods we make and I rarely see anything thrown away at the end of class.
Kristen Heimann says
I haven’t read the Atlantic piece yet but did read the NYT one. There are so many issues at hand and like health, it can’t only be pointed to one thing. Getting kids to eat better from an early age is not only about income. Yes, I do agree that it is a huge barrier and as I watch my 11 month old throw pieces of chicken or egg on the floor or spill her entire bowl of morning oatmeal as she tries to eat it alone, I thank my lucky stars that we are not food insecure. That said, I grew up in a single parent household where my mom was a teacher (and not making a lot of money at all) and I ate what she ate which was mainly vegetarian. Until I started school at 5, I didn’t even know that other food existed.
I think if we look at the issue holistically (like we should a lot of ailments), the other factors at play are:
-Is food a priority for the family? Given the lack of food culture in America, for many families food is not something that important.
-How much of their monthly budget are they even spending on food? It’s a known fact that Americans spend a much lower percentage on food than other cultures.
-How many jobs are the parents working? If mom is working 7am – 9pm, there is little time to cook, let alone eat. I know that if I was not primarily a stay at home mom, I would have exclusively breastfed for much less time and my daughter would not only be eating homemade meals which include more variety for her to try foods. I spend A LOT of time thinking about, planning and making her food.
-How often is the child eating outside of the home at a daycare or someplace similar? The daycare comment above was really interesting. They are planning to feed a lot of children at once, so quantity versus quality is the goal (less variety and taste, most likely pre-prepared food).
-What variety is the child getting during meals away from mom and the home? If it’s not a lot at an early age, we know tastes and preference suffer.
-What does the family eat? If mom and dad don’t eat broccoli, the kid probably won’t either.
-Do mom or dad know how to cook? If they don’t like to cook or don’t cook regularly, making food again will not be important.
Unfortunately, there is not a simple solution but just as France has now made it a law that grocery stores, etc can not throw away food and must donate it, perhaps something similar could be a way to get better food into less fortunate family’s hands (like the great program in Texas).
lindtfree says
To lower-income families whose children tend to reject vegetables, I especially recommend FRESH parsley (which can be added chopped to rice, pasta, and mashed potatoes). Often overlooked by Americans as a garnish, parsley is highly nutritious. Also, at least in the city where I live, it is generally available in supermarkets (not corner groceries) in lower-income neighborhoods:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=100&tname=foodspice
If I recall correctly, The Lunch Tray does not advocate “hiding” vegetables in foods to disguise them from children, as this may prevent children from developing vegetable palates. What about “mixing,” adding vegetables to other foods so the pieces are small but still noticeable? In addition to parsley, the following “starter” vegetables are affordable and should be tolerated by many children:
1.) Fresh whole carrots (serve raw carrot sticks; add grated to rice, pasta, and soup)
2.) Fresh onions (added chopped to legumes, rice, and pasta sauce)
3.) Frozen French-cut green beans (add to homemade macaronic & cheese and other casseroles)
4.) Diced canned tomatoes (use as an ingredient in Spanish rice and pasta sauce)
Most children genuinely like at least one or two vegetables. If a family with a limited food budget has a child who only likes frozen peas and carrots, it may be better to allow that particular child to eat frozen peas and carrots every night (at least for the short term) than to forego vegetables entirely. . .
Sophie says
I agree with so many thoughts already expressed and the issues are complicated! One thought which I am sure is a factor adding to the socioeconomic divide is not only the time, cost and and ‘risk’ factor of making something from scratch, but also the simple tools used to cook homemade food.
How many low income families have good knives?
Pots that aren’t warped, or flaking teflon?
Stoves and/or ovens where the burners all work, reliably?
Dishwashers and enough refrigerator space to handle lots of fresh food?
My point is that lots of the enjoyment of cooking that may come to those of us lucky enough to have nice ‘stuff’ to use like that Oxo veggie peeler, spiralizer, or Cuisinart, get satisfaction that would be actually be depressing if the ‘stuff’ we used wasn’t cool, usable, or functioning.
Just another idea on why that economic factor isn’t simply the ‘food desert,’ or access and familiarity issue
mommm!!! says
The one thing failed to be mentioned by the article and in the comments:
Poverty is depressing. Many poor food choices are made as bandaids to the depressing state of mind that permeates people in poverty. Imagine living a life where the highlight of your day is a bag of chips, or a soda, or a candy bar. This is the reality for thousands upon thousands.
mommm!!! says
And here is another point of view from the poverty camp:
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1114549/raising-kids-on-food-stamps