Taking from questions

You may or may not know, but I currently spend the majority of my time working with pediatric patients in an outpatient clinic. I often walk into rooms where parents lament the picky eating behavior of their children, telling me they’ll only eat mac and cheese, or chicken nuggets, or “you know, kid food.” I’m often taken aback by that statement. I didn’t know there was special food for children. I’m familiar with baby food, mashed, pureed or cooked soft so that babies can eat it, but kid food? That’s a new one.

Often times I’ll ask these parents to explain what kid food is, and they name the aforementioned foods, and pop tarts, sugary cereals, etc. The list goes on. I take a leisurely deep breath, lean back, considering the hopeful looks on their faces and I ask “Why are those kid foods?”

Silence.

Every time.

This allows us to have a conversation where the parents examine their own role in the food environment of these kids we see every day in the clinic. It turns out there’s no such thing as kid food, but thee is a such thing as marketing. There is a such thing as a predisposition towards sweetness unless we are otherwise introduced to different flavors. This is where the conversation starts, we can then ask, why don’t we offer our kids the same food we eat? If they don’t like it, why not? Do the children have any suggestions? What can be done as a family to improve curiosity and the trying of new foods? It all starts with a question, as do most things.

Today I filmed a segment on a television show and I had to ask myself many questions. Why did I wait until the last minute to buy supplies for the shoot? Why did I take so long deciding on snacks? What am I going to do so that I’ll be better prepared next time? Last week it was what can I give. This week, it’s how can I give better?