Palates, Like Children, Grow!
So you’ve lovingly slaved over that lasagne and your little
one gobbles it up with a grin. You serve it up again the following week and it’s
turned down with a look of disgust. What is going on? It’s quite simple – at this
age, your child doesn’t know what
they like and don’t like.
Taste Preferences in Young Children are
Unstable
Research recently conducted with a group of under 5’s
offered them 5 flavours of ice cream and asked them to rate the flavours. The next
day they repeated the task and each day they rated the flavours differently.
Don’t believe them when they say “they don’t
like it”.
The
same research conducted with a group of over 5’s showed a more stable palate in
terms of their likes and dislikes and they rated the flavours the same both days.
Other research was conducted on parents this time to see if
they could spot which foods their children would and wouldn’t try. They were
wrong! Despite spending mealtimes with their children and hearing repeated
refusals or requests for food, most parents were wrong when it came to spotting
which foods their little ones would try. Children who had refused broccoli were
happy to try it, proving that children are fickle when it comes to claiming
their likes and dislikes. If they won’t try it or don’t like it today, it doesn’t
mean they won’t like it or try it tomorrow.
Many parents are wrong when they think they know which
foods their kids will try!
I Like v I’m Willing
To Eat
There’s a difference between what your child “likes” and
what they’re willing to eat. Your child may like sausages and fish fingers but
that doesn’t mean they’re not willing to eat mackerel or broccoli. There is no
diet or eating regime for a fussy eater. If you continue to feed a narrow
palate you will reinforce a narrow palate. A flower needs to be regularly turned
to the sunlight else it grows bent and crooked in one direction - the same applies to the palate.
It needs to stimulated and encouraged to grow in many directions else it will
be stunted along a single path.
If you continue to feed a narrow palate you will
reinforce a narrow palate.
Get Used To Rejection
You’ve cooked up a fabulous meal and your little one has
refused it. Get over it! Take rejection in your stride and don’t make a big
deal out of it – you could find yourself entering a battle of wills and at the
end of the day short of prising your child’s mouth open and forcing the food in
(not what we’d recommend) you can’t force them to eat it.
Don’t Offer An Alternative
Now this is the hard one since many parents hate the thought
of their child going hungry and serve up maybe just a bowl of yogurt or
something just to make sure they don’t go hungry. Don’t do it! You are in a
great position here to teach action-consequence and by recognising not “trying”
the food on offer will mean no food until the next mealtime is a common and
often necessary situation to find yourself in. Yes they will get hungry but
that is a developmental leap – recognising that “not eating = hungry”.
Play Fair
Now with all this in mind, don’t go serving up tripe and
then saying “that’s all there is”. Your child is entitled to make choices so
ensure there are multiple foods available on the plate, such as risotto,
broccoli and green beans so your child can retain control over choosing to eat
one thing or not the other. It’s a bit like “everyone’s a winner”. You’re happy
because the green beans have been eaten and your child’s happy because she’s
only eaten the green beans and left everything else. Sound petty? Yes – but we’re
dealing with children whose brains are still developing so pettiness is going
to be around for a long time yet.
Make at least 3 different foods available on each plate
of food.
It can be good to talk to your child before serving the meal
about what to have. We are big fans of A-B choices in all aspects of parenting
so your child gets used to choosing from 2 things. Asking before dinner “would
you like peas or sweetcorn” means you’re ensuring they’re getting veggies
and your child chooses “peas” means they have had some say in the food on
offer. Because they have chosen it they are far more likely to try it. Repeat this
A-B throughout all aspects of your life. “Would you like to walk or take the
buggy?”; “Shall we go on the slide or the swing first?”; Shall we read book A
or book B?”. Your child will get used to making these decisions so when
mealtime comes along it will be natural to choose from a choice of food.
Offer A-B choices in all aspects of parenting.
Always make sure there is something on the plate your child
can choose to eat – don’t go serving up a plateful of new foods or foods you
know they won’t like. If they will eat peas then maybe pop a small serving on
the plate so they can choose that if they like.
At the end of the day, feeding the “right” foods to a fussy eater
is never going to work since fussy eating isn’t about the food. Once you get to
the root of the real problem and deal with it in the right way – whether that
be control, attention, neophobia or other area then the fussy eating will sort
itself out.
If you’re interested in some of the research which we’ve
cited in this article, here are the references:
Busick,
D. B., J. Brooks, S. Pernecky, R. Dawson, and J. Petzoldt. 2008. “Parent Food
Purchases as a Measure of Exposure and Preschool-Aged Children's Willingness to
Identify and Taste Fruit and Vegetables.” Appetite 51: 468-73.
Coulthard,
H. and J. Blissett. 2009. “Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Children and
Their Mothers. Moderating Effects of Child Sensory Sensitivity.” Appetite
52: 410-15.
Dovey,
T. M., P. A. Staples, G. E. Leigh, and J. C. G. Halford. 2008. “Food Neophobia
and 'Picky/Fussy' Eating in Children: a Review.” Appetite 50: 181-93.
Liem,
D. G., L. Zandstra, and A. Thomas. 2010. “Prediction of Children's Flavour
Preferences. Effect of Age and Stability in Reported Preferences.” Appetite 55:
69-75.
Photograph courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
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