Hot take

There are many forms of picky eating and they’re certainly not all associated with being neurodiverse. Most people are doing the best they can with the resources they have available to them at the time.

@GMF I agree picky eaters exist and I am sure that’s hard. My daughter refuses to eat certain things as well so I know it’s not just due to lack of effort however you as a parent need to try to be creative and try different ways to encourage healthy eating. As a child I wasn’t even a picky eater but my mother fed me basically nothing but poptarts, nuggets and pizza rolls just out of pure laziness. Definitely set me up for failure and it’s been a struggle to break free from the unhealthy habits that were formed

Idc what my kids eat. We believe everything in moderation. I suffered an eating disorder in my teens because my mother was going through weight watchers and decided it would be a good idea to also put me on the same plan. And I ended up suffering an eating disorder. Because I thought everything was going to make me fat, so I stopped eating completely. I believe kids need to understand a healthy relationship with all food and junk, including fast food. You can have a healthy relationship with all the foods you eat. My daughter ate two chocolates tonight after dinner. I didn't care, she can have all the chocolate she wanted as long as she ate something healthy too

@Carol💗💙 this is great! Like you said ✨balance✨. I also struggled with an eating disorder but in a different way. Id rather not eat anything than eat a balanced meal. So thats how I lost weight, I starved myself

I agree but only in the sense that many parents don’t know that foods need to be introduced time and time again before being ruled out as disliked by a child. A healthy diet is vital to healthy development but it’s not the only factor. Things like activity levels, mental state, support system, etc all have major impacts on our bodies. Eating healthy in an unhealthy environment can actually be more damaging than doing the opposite. There also needs to be a huge acknowledgment that this view can easily slip into classism. Not everyone can afford for the majority of the diet to be “healthy”. Unhealthy foods are both cheaper and a lot easier to access in low-income neighbourhoods vs their counterparts. Low-income families also tend to have working parents who even if they have money, may not have the time or energy to “create a healthy diet”.

I’m much more concerned about creating a healthy relationship with food and the general idea of eating, than I am concerned about the type of foods that get eaten.

@Parker 又 THIS

@Aggs I did mean to put that severe poverty is another exception. Although we only make $28k a year currently and get food stamps which covers almost all of our food. Obviously this isn’t the case for everyone but there are systems in place to help people in poverty have access to healthy food.

Yes and no. Parents are responsible for the food that gets to the table. But as you said, not everyone has the resources to offer the best meals and people shouldn't be shamed for their food choices. There are many reasons that push people towards non ideal options: lack of time, lack of energy, lack of information, lack of choices, lack of funds... And we live in an increasingly individualistic society where instead of aknowledging that this is a socioenvironmental problem, we criticise and put all the responsibility on the individuals. Not everyone can afford fresh food and to cook from scratch. This has turned into an accessibility problem and people get shamed for it.

Then add the poor regulation on the food industry and you create the perfect storm.

I feel like there’s so many other factors to consider with this, like the price of food. We try our best to eat & cook fresh, but it is EXPENSIVE. A punnet of strawberries £3 or a giant multipack of crisps £3. In Iceland you can buy huge bags of chips/chicken nuggets for a couple of quid. A pack of chicken breasts from Tesco is almost £7. Like someone above also mentioned not everyone has the time, I work from 7am-5pm then pick my daughter up from nursery, I have half an hour maximum to feed her, and while she’s under my feet and tired and whiny I’m not cooking a meal from scratch

@Parker 又 where's your capitalism meme for this one? 😂

I will forever be thankful I discovered Solid Starts before my toddler started solids. I definitely would not have known that toddler selectivity, as they call it, is different than true picky eating. It really informed my whole approach to offering him food. We also sort of pigeonhole little kids into being picky eaters IMO. All of the food that’s marketed toward kids and the kid menus in restaurants - I mean sure, my kid does like pizza and pasta and burgers, but he also loves salmon and hummus and green beans (sometimes lol).

@GMF fully agree with the kids menu. So limited everywhere. We’ve just been ordering from the adult menu for my oldest and bring home the left overs if needed. He loves trying new foods. Even at Mexican restaurants the options are pizza, burger and fries 😂 like where’s the Mexican food?

I agree, my mum fed us very plain, mostly boxed, tinned, or frozen meals, and as a result I'm quite picky when it comes to spices in foods. I'm trying to do the opposite with my kids, they were exposed to all different spices and foods right from 6 months old. They are still picky when it comes to vegetables, but they eat a wide variety of things. My youngest is super picky at the moment because of chemo, right now he'll only eat bologna, pizza, butterscotch pudding cups, croissants, or bread.

If someone could find a food my 7 month old doesn’t like, I would give them £10 lol

@Sarah knock on wood rn 😅😂

I'm on board with being conscientious of what you introduce to your child, but I don't think the concept of "picky eating" is helpful and it should really be abolished. I also don't agree with always blaming the parent. Most kids aren't picky by choice. Most parents want to do right by their kid. They are under an enormous amount of pressure to be perfect, to feed them instagram-worthy BLW meals, and homemade spinach and broccoli fritters over anything beige, packaged, or processed. They're scared off of any packaged foods, and shamed over them, despite the fact that many of these foods are the most palatable for young kids and fit best into a busy family's lifestyle. "picky eating" also ignores the many kids who have legitimate sensory or swallowing issues, and ignoring those issues in favor of just "getting them to eat vegetables" because the parent feels they are to blame will not solve the problem.

I had my issues with flavour and textures as a kid. Many people do. It wasn't intentional. I didn't deliberately sabotage mealtimes because I wanted chicken nuggets. I genuinely struggled, and growing up in the Clean Plate Club era, I developed my own negative associations with food. It took me awhile to unlearn them. The secret to "picky eating," I believe, is just keeping mealtimes a positive experience - fun, simple, low stress, no pressure. Let kids try the foods you offer in their own time. And don't be afraid of beige foods once in awhile. Most of the time, "pickiness" is a phase, is not anyone's fault but genetics, and will pass, but the lifelong habits we create around food and mealtimes are what will endure.