We asked a panel of six parents with kids from ages 2 to 13 what their primary challenges are when it comes to food for their kids. Scroll through to find out what they had to say about the kids food and beverage category.
Jessica Adams, a mother of three young daughters, shared, "I grew up with a dinner plate that had a protein, carb, and a veggie. And now I’m training my kids to have a dinner plate that has a smaller protein and two veggies, which we like to call in our household, ‘anytime food’, so they can eat that whenever they want. So if they do a good job with their ‘anytime food’ we then talk about their ‘sometime food’.
“I know growing up our favorite dinner was Hamburger Helper,” shared Jamie McGowan, mother of three kids (ages 9,10, and 13). “Somehow those have never been introduced into our home at this point. I grocery shop two to three days a week and try to keep fresh produce, fresh protein sources.”
“For us growing up, my mother stayed at home and cooked a homemade meal every night. And now with two working parents we do a lot with convenient food. We always have a frozen pizza in the freezer, which I never had growing up. When I was growing up, dessert was always there, but today the concept of dessert as a post-meal treat isn’t part of the routine,” Melanie Kahn, mother of 2- and 3-year-old, said.
Quotes from parent panelists:
“We always talk about food and nutrition as fuel, so it’s not just fresh food, it’s what’s going to power us through our day.”
“I think organic and hormone-free is a huge driver for our family. With that being said, it’s really hard to try find organic strawberries, so we’ll buy conventional.”
“Most of my peer set is very much organic focused, and I don’t care about it at all. I tend to get organic because it tends to be cheaper.”
Quotes from parent panelists:
For one parent, it's not so much about label claims as it is overall nutrition: “We always talk about food and nutrition as fuel, so it’s not just fresh food, it’s what’s going to power us through our day.”
“I think organic and hormone-free is a huge driver for our family. With that being said, it’s really hard to try find organic strawberries, so we’ll buy conventional.”
“Most of my peer set is very much organic focused, and I don’t care about it at all. I tend to get organic because it tends to be cheaper.”
Concern about sugar content was an aspect the parents panel was acutely attuned to and modifying items such as juice by adding water to reduce the sugar content in their child’s diet and incorporated honey and maple syrup as a replacement to cane sugar were some strategies for keeping sugar consumption in check.
Quotes from parent panelists:
“Sugar is the one area I’m willing to spend more money on the lower-sugar option,” shared one parent.
“Overall, we’re looking to avoid added sugars,” shared another panelist.
“To me, it comes down to how many grams.”
“To me sugar is sugar, it doesn’t matter where it’s derived.”
“I think there are some brands that set the threshold for sugar content within that category. The only category we don’t consume is orange juice because of the sheer amount of sugar.”
“Unless I’m searching for that specific label claim, it’s all noise to me,” said Kevin Chan-a-shing, father of a three-year-old daughter.
“We really try to avoid any artificial dyes (but not due to allergies),” added Lori Lorgeree, mother of three sons, ages 10, 9, and 6.
For Kate Molloy, who has a son with a tree nut and egg allergy, she is aware of avoiding certain ingredients, but will still prepare an egg dish from time to time for other members of her family.
Our panelists frequent fast-food chains and treat the eating out occasion as a treat instead of a health-food destination.
Quotes from parent panelists:
“My family loves Chipotle because you can build your meal how you like it and you have direct control of what’s going into your bowl.”
“The reality is, if we’re eating out on the run, we want her to finish the food and get out. We’ve done a lot of McDonalds, my daughter likes the chicken McNuggets. The healthier SKU that McDonalds is trying to feels likes it’s more about appealing to parents. “
“We do go to McDonald’s about once per week as a treat and they get very excited about that. They split a small size of French fries, and I don’t feel that bad about it. There are healthier things on the menu, but that’s not why we’re going.”:
“We also do McDonalds, and I like that they have the small size of French fries for my three-year-old. She doesn’t need a big serving of French fries. Local to Chicago, we love Native Foods and my kids don’t know that it’s actually not ‘chicken’ in the chicken nuggets.’
Ditching foods that you can prepare in the microwave due to concerns about the impact of the microwaves on the food was an unexpected insight from two of the our parent panelists with one parent sharing her family doesn't own a microwave at all.
The challenge has been finding convenient ready-to-eat or easy-to-prepare options that don't have to be microwaved, shared one parent panelist.
Mother of 9-,10-, and 13-year-old: Cheese sticks, meat snacks, anything that’s portable that doesn’t have to be refrigerated.
Mother of 3-, 6-, and 8-year-old: “We love the puréed fruits in pouches, cut-up fresh fruit, veggies straws, and pretzels.”
Mother of 6-, 9-, and 10-year-old: “My kids love the little containers of guacamole and hummus with chips.”
Mother of 2- and 3-year-old: “For us, it’s apple sauce, it’s cheese sticks, it’s freeze-dried fruit, which is like candy for them.”
Father of 3-year-old: She wants snack food that the she can have fun with (e.g. Goldfish)
Blogs, social media where parents tag each other in certain posts, Pinterest recipe boards, and daycare providers, were some of the sources for nutrition information and new food ideas to try.
“Word of mouth is the primary resource of where I find new things to give my kids.”
As kids get older, it’s what their friends brought to the lunchroom that day, noted another panelist.
