Right now I’m with my oldest son at Wegmans (my favorite grocery store) and his 4th grade class for a field trip. I’ve talked about this before, but getting kids involved with food and the cooking process is such a great learning experience for them.
We’re walking around the store visiting each department and learning important facts from employees on health, cooking and food preparation. The kids are having a great time. It’s interesting to see how different each child is. Their understanding of health and nutrition, their willingness to try new things (we are sampling food in each department) and their general attitude and interest.
Most of the kids are willing to try, but one little girl in particular is absolutely unwilling to try a single thing. This attitude about food is no hard for me to understand. Apples- no, she doesn’t like. Cheese- nope, doesn’t like. Fruit smoothies- nay, doesn’t like. Etc… What does this child eat?! This seems so unhealthy.
Then the other question is, how do her parents handle this? I just asked her what if her mom would want her to try and she said no.
Parents need to encourage kids to try new foods. It’s so important. Too many parents encourage a closed-minded attitude about eating and food by not encouraging them to at least taste. We have a one-bite rule. You don’t need to love everything, but you do need to try at least one bite. I don’t make special meals for kids who don’t like what I’ve prepared. Once you start to do that you’re are setting yourself up to close off your child’s willingness to try.
It’s interesting seeing how much knowledge these kids have. As moms of boys, we need to encourage our sons to take in interest in what goes on in the kitchen…it’s good for them and great for further breaking down the stereotypes of women in the kitchen.
