Picky eaters say they don’t benefit from coercive approach to expanding diet

Picky eaters say they don’t benefit from coercive approach to expanding diet


Every picky eater can identify with this scene. An island of uneaten vegetables sits on a child’s plate. Maybe it’s carrots or peas or that green nemesis of kids everywhere: broccoli. A parent scolds and demands: Eat your vegetables. Now.

But a paper by Duke Health researchers indicates this approach might not be the best path for helping kids curb their food avoidance.

A large national survey that included adults who were finicky eaters as children found that coercive or forceful strategies used by their parents did little to encourage them to be more adventuresome at the dinner table. Instead, the adults say they most benefited from a friendlier approach, with lots of positive reinforcement.

Being forced to eat something, these adults note, or hearing that they were disappointing their parents by refusing to eat some foods, left a negative impression in their young minds. That tack might also harden attitudes about avoiding some foods.

A child, after all, doesn’t like to be told what to do. And researchers say the tough approach increases anxiety around mealtime.

Scientists say a collaborative effort seems most helpful in expanding a child’s dietary variety. Surveyed adults spoke positively of being involved in food preparation. Or recalling parents experimenting with the masking the taste of distasteful foods — with the child’s knowledge. Engaging with new foods in the context of cultural or nutritional learning also appeared beneficial.

Researchers say children might respond better when parents acknowledge how hard it is for them to try different things.

Perhaps even broccoli can be conquered, with the right approach.

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