If you are a parent, whether your children are still toddlers or are now old enough to become parents themselves, it would have been practically impossible to ignore the subject of some of the recent headlines. They announced that parents no longer have to take the blame if their children are picky eaters because it is all down to their genetics. At least that’s how the majority of news outlets reported the findings from the UK study that analysed the data from 2,400 sets of twins. Naturally, any parent hearing this news would have felt a moment of relief, because it is almost a rite of passage to at some point experience the frustration of trying to get your child to eat.
Maybe it’s parental instinct at the root of such emotional stress and anxiety, because it makes you feel utterly redundant when you can’t even do your number one job of feeding your child. Especially when social media is full of advice alongside smiling, gurgling babies hoovering up absolutely everything put in front of them. But parents know that even within families, siblings can differ wildly. You can be trying to feed one child who would hands down win a bush tucker trial sitting alongside their sibling who is literally a vegetable dodger. It may not feel reassuring, but it’s still perfectly normal for children to go through a period where they are reluctant to try new tastes and flavours. Fortunately, it can be short-lived and not all children continue to be picky eaters throughout childhood.
But if you are tearing your hair out because your child has been persistently picky since you can remember, then at least you can now rest assured that maybe it’s your genes and not your parenting at fault. The headlines came from a twin study that looked at those who had an established level of pickiness, ate only a small range of foods and those who had food neophobia (a fear of new foods). What they found was that genetics plays a significant role in food pickiness and this influence increases with age. But there is still hope for picky eaters (and their parents), because having a genetic influence does not mean that it is also fixed for life.
What the study also found, and was little reported on, was that environment still plays a role in food pickiness. In fact, the shared home environment had a significant influence on picky eating in toddlerhood. Which means that there’s much that can still be done to encourage and support children to eat a wide variety of foods in their diet while they are very young. For example, sticking to a routine, eating the same foods as your children, increasing the variety of fruits and vegetables offered, and repeating the foods that have been previously rejected are very effective techniques. As is allowing your child to handle foods and feed themselves, offering small portions and giving praise when they finish and trying to keep mealtimes calm. It also helps to reduce the number of distractions at mealtimes by switching off TVs and small screens and serving at least one food that you know your child will eat. Of course, this doesn’t mean that tackling this is going to be an easy quick-fix. Because like all of the difficult hurdles you face in parenting, having a lot of patience, consistency and time is the key.
However, the study also showed that some children are influenced by some very picky genes throughout childhood, so clearly there is no catch-all solution that will easily transform the most reluctant eater into a full-blown foodie. In addition, despite there being a window whilst your children are toddlers where you can influence their level of pickiness in the home environment, unfortunately, it doesn’t last forever. The study found what all parents of teenagers soon learn, which is that as children mature, the home environment begins to matter less. Instead, the environment outside of the home becomes more important and the influence of their friends and peers becomes more dominant.
As the influence of their genes also increases in adolescence, it naturally makes picky eating even more challenging to change. But this doesn’t mean that if your teenager is still a picky eater, they are necessarily doomed to a lifetime of eating the same rotation of meals. At least in my experience, most teenagers who are picky eaters would genuinely like to improve their diet. The most common reason they give is that they want to fit in and be able to eat the same meals as their friends and family. And as long as they are fully on board to try and change things, then they actually can achieve quite a lot. Sometimes they just need the support of those around them to feel safe enough to try.
However, it’s important to note here that some children suffer from experiencing sensory food sensitivities and picky eating shouldn’t be confused with excessive selective eating. This can be seen in children of all ages and can be a symptom of disordered eating or an eating disorder such as ‘avoidant and restrictive food intake disorder’ (ARFID). Clearly, these children are not picky eaters and parents need the help of specialist support to treat this.
Ultimately, this study gives more insight into why some children might be pickier eaters than others and should alleviate parental blame. It also indicates how important the early years are in establishing our eating habits. Hopefully it will encourage parents of toddlers that what they do at home can still make a real difference to their future diets. With more research we may learn how we can better support children with persistently picky genes to eat a wider diet. In the meantime, many parents would just be happy enough to know how to get their child to eat anything green.
Which brings me to the changing seasons and the start of Autumnal menus and flavours. Autumn vegetables, including Brussel sprouts, are starting to come into season but they are notoriously disliked by many children and adults alike. However, they happen to be one of my favourite vegetables and hopefully this recipe for Crispy Brussel sprout bites with orange and garlic will help persuade you to try them.
