I AM Modern Magazine for Moms

When we label our kids they hear us and it sticks. Let's be careful about what we say.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of being a guest in Mrs. Carlivati’s 5th and 6th grade science classes at Nysmith School in Virginia. Mrs. Carlivati, an amazing teacher, does a unit on nutrition with her classes. In celebration of AHA’s Go Red for Women campaign, I was invited to lead a discussion about heart healthy food choices. My goal was to teach the kids that healthy foods can be yummy too. I was hoping to teach them to try new foods and to start making good choices today.

The children were so much fun. Prior to trying the foods we talked about being labeled as a picky eater. Most of the children consider themselves to be “picky” eaters because they don’t like a particular food (fish and mushrooms were the big ones) or because the variety of foods that they normally consume is very limited. They admitted that when they go out to eat that they typically get the burger or the chicken tenders neither of which are heart healthy. The majority of the kids said that their parents feed them “kid food” for dinner on most nights.

On a very grown up level, we had a discussion and concluded that when you try a new food it may take a few careful bites before you can get past the new flavors, and that it’s easy to reject something new and say you don’t like it. They decided that they don’t like being labeled as picky and vowed to broaden their horizons.

Before I let them try the Let’s Dish! meals I had brought - Mu Shu Pork, Montreal Chicken, and Ginger Beef - they promised to try five bites of a new food before they declare, “yuck!”. Needless to say, they loved the new foods. One of my favorite comments was from one of the kids who earlier said she hated mushrooms - ”I can’t believe that this has mushrooms, carrots and cabbage. I’ve never really had mushrooms. I guess I like them.” Go figure!

When I serve something new to my kids, they get to give it a grade as long as they’ve had at least five bites. I only make one thing for dinner; if they come around an hour later looking for food they are allowed a piece of fruit or a container of yogurt.

I suggest that we stop calling our kids picky and give them a chance to try something new. They won’t like everything they try but they are bound to be healthier if they get beyond chicken tenders and burgers.

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