Picky Eating in Children

Do you remember as a child sitting at the dinner table with your family and feeling disappointed as soon as the plate was placed in front of you? Our parents worked hard to feed us (I hope), working, making sure we ate at all. But growing up as a fussy eater and regularly being served the things I couldn't bear was the thing that most baffled me. Kraft dinner was one of those dishes for me.

My parents did all they could because I was one of the unfortunate children in a low-income household. Seeing food go to waste was an awful outcome, but your parents made it the food knowing you didn't enjoy it.

It was a recurring theme. To the point where I didn't eat anything that night. I couldn't bear the stench, the noise of that squishy gross sound the noodles made with just a little movement, and the taste made me want to vomit. However, they continued to cook it. And it would be discarded the following day. Fortunately, my parents eventually stopped buying KD. There was no reason to when all the kids who liked it had moved out and the one kid who disliked it was too little to move out.

But that didn't stop my parents from cooking dishes they enjoyed but I didn’t like. I was a picky eater, and I couldn't eat things I despised. It wasn't the serotonin surge; it made me physically nauseous to eat anything my taste buds didn't approve of.

Now that I'm older, I wonder what the point is of forcing your child to eat foods they don't like. Obviously, there are some things you need in your body to keep healthy, but boiling broccoli the same way every day won't change how it tastes to someone.

Try a different recipe—and no, vegetables do not belong in brownies or smoothies—stop hiding veggies from your kid (This may erode your child’s trust). Experiment with other recipes for the item they dislike. It could be the way you cook it rather than the food itself.

However, if your child is anything like me, any variant of Kraft dinner makes me want to cry. Talk to your kids about the foods they enjoy eating—of course, they can't have ice cream every day. However, communicating and preparing food that everyone appreciates reduces the likelihood of waste.

When children grow up, they will not buy broccoli and boil it as you did. They will purchase foods they enjoy eating and explore new meals they have not tried before. So, why are you teaching your child to force themselves to eat foods they dislike?

Why not teach them diverse ways to cook things, and explore other options? It is selfish to prepare dishes that we enjoy but that others dislike. We would never do that to a guest, so why would we do it to your own family?

Here is a recipe I loved as a kid even though I had a small palette. Remember, if you do not like anything in the ingredients list, swap it out for something you do. Nothing must be exact.

Spinach Strawberry Walnut Salad

Ingredients 

• Baby spinach

• Strawberries

• Walnuts (or any type of nut)

• Strawberry salad dressing

No need to worry about measurements, add portions you feel are right.

Directions

• Add spinach to a large salad bowl and drizzle with the amount of salad dressing you desire.

• Gently toss to coat.

• Sprinkle dressed spinach evenly with strawberries, and walnuts.

---

Cat .M — I've grown so accustomed to my nickname that if you addressed me by my full name, I wouldn't respond. But just for the record, my full name is Catherine. M I'll mostly talk about the world's problems, but I'll only do the bare minimum to fix them. Maybe it's a lack of motivation, but when all you hear is how bad the world is, you grow up not caring. I hope you find a little bit of positivity in my posts!

---

In Defence of Food Service Jobs

Retail and the food service industry are two necessary evils in this world. The work is tasking and sometimes downright miserable. I say this from experience. But it’s an experience that teaches you invaluable life skills. During my time as a food service worker, I learned things I might’ve never otherwise.

Despite what some people say, it’s not an easy job. The smell of food permeates your skin until you don’t even notice it anymore (but trust me, other people do), you become sick of meals you never thought you would, and clopen (close-open) shifts are all too prevalent.

Not to mention the physical and emotional toll it takes. Your feet hurt after every shift, your hands peel after washing dishes all day, and the kitchen heat is borderline suffocating. On top of that, customers are very comfortable tasking you with ridiculous requests, the constant flow of customers means little downtime, and the revolving-door nature of the industry means you’ll often be short-staffed.

I’ve heard countless stories of the abuse food service workers have endured— from both customers and management. It’s an often thankless job that employs 7% of the country’s workforce.

For an industry with such a large effect on the economy, you’d think food service workers would be shown a little more gratitude. You learn that people have a tendency to demand a service from you while simultaneously degrading you for it.

But it pays the bills. And although the work was labouring, I’ve managed to have some amazing experiences in my food service jobs.

You become close with the most random assortment of people— people you would’ve never talked to otherwise; the only people in the world who understand your job. The casualness of the work environment is liberating, and if you’re cool with your manager, you can basically do whatever you want.

I’ve never had that sort of freedom in any of my office jobs, and I can honestly say I miss it sometimes.

It’s not a free-for-all, though. Having that level of freedom made me a better worker because I had to be. The environment is chaotically fast-paced, and unless you want to fall behind, you have to be an effective multitasker. You also have to learn how to organize yourself, build routines, and learn how to communicate with others.

Most of all, you learn how to be likeable. I think that’s the most important skill of all. Before this experience, I was painfully shy, didn’t know how to stand up for myself, and was really bad at approaching people. But that didn’t really get me tips, and made the job harder than it had to be.

So, I had to let go a little. I had to become a little more fearless. I had to learn when it was necessary to politely rush a customer, call a co-worker out when they did something wrong, and confront my manager when he messed my schedule up (which is inevitable).

I’ve always had a good work ethic (thanks, anxiety), but my food service job improved that immensely.

People tend to look down on food-service workers for having what’s seen as a ‘lesser’ job. While it’s true that it starts at minimum wage, is often entry-level, and doesn’t usually require complicated qualifications, the audacity to treat food service workers as though they’re lazy and not hard working is unwarranted— and wrong.

Food service workers are more valuable to society than most people realize. Who else is gonna make your burrito bowl when you’re too tired to cook after work? Who else will give up their evenings, weekends, and holidays? Who else provides the services that allow us the luxury of being a little lazy from time to time?

A food service worker. So tip what you can and say thank you.

I’m more of a hard worker because of my food service job. And more importantly? I’m a better person because of it.

---

Amanda Monterroso ⁠— is a 2nd-year Professional Writing Student who will try (mostly) any food at least once, has a bookshelf full of unread books, loves writing poetry, and hates writing bios. Follow her on Instagram: @quietsonginthenight