Want Your Child To Eat (Almost) Everything? There Is A Way
Giving kids a diet varied in flavors and textures from the get-go can help them be more open to trying new foods. The problem is America's food landscape makes that ideal hard to live up to.
Experts will tell you that if you want to raise a kid who eats just about everything, you should feed them what you eat — assuming you're eating a varied, healthy diet. It's what most cultures have done for most of human history.
But American culture sends parents a very different message. Kids menus full of so-called "kid foods" like chicken nuggets, pizza and french fries are everywhere. There's good reason why salty, sweet and fatty foods appeal to kids: It's basic biology.
"They're born preferring salty and sweet, and if those tastes are in foods, most kids are going to be very attracted to them," says , a research psychologist with the University of Georgia. Birch has spent more
