Dina Rose over at It’s Not About Nutrition had a nice post a week or so ago (sorry to get to it a little late) on a study which required children to try various vegetables — but which also allowed them to spit out anything they didn’t like. She concludes (and I can attest to this firsthand) that allowing spitting is a good strategy to take pressure off picky eaters who are afraid to try something new, lest they have to actually eat that disgusting carrot, pepper or whatever.
Read her post here.
Stephanie says
I am really surprised that there are no comments on this…
I do not have a picky eater, but I can not imagine ALLOWING my child to SPIT OUT FOOD. Our rule is always try it (and that means swallowing it!) You can not say yuck unless you have tried it… and we stick to it. Others take the 3 bite rule, but even I feel that might be extreme (maybe because my mom used to try to pass off liver as stir-fry!)
In regards to the study, it does not seem that they took into consideration one interesting aspect. If kids have not regularly been told that they can spit out food which they do not like, then suddenly are asked to do it… even if they like the taste (which some of these kids did) the novelty of being able to spit it out comes into play. So that would fudge up the results.
Curious, are there people who have picky eaters that actually let their kids spit out food? How did their children become picky eaters? Is it parent or child driven?
bettina elias siegel says
Oh, Stephanie, where to begin?
First, having seen it firsthand, I can say that at least in our case, the anti-veggie pickiness (of one child) seems to be entirely an inherent trait. We’re a family of very adventurous eaters, demonstrate an obvious love of food and exploring new flavors, eat vegetables with pleasure in front of my child, etc. and yet from a very early age he just would NOT try them. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed how obstinate a child could be about this issue and how threatening the shunned food seems to be. And so, on the rare occasions when I do urge him to try something new (in general, I try not to pressure because it inevitably backfires), I’ve actually said, “It’s OK to spit it out if you don’t like it.” And I think knowing that he has that “out” is comforting, although I think he’s only actually used the out once or twice. I’ll add that as he gets older, he’s definitely slowly improving — see my recent post “Picky Eaters: Another Miracle in Houston“.
But your point about the study is a good one – maybe they were just spitting for the fun of it!
Viki says
Oh Stephanie! Liver as Stir-fry! LOL! Thanks for making my day.
I agree, if I had told my oldest she could spit it out she would have just because she could.
The youngest, however, would have spit out what she didn’t like, texture wise or taste.
Plus there is that whole try it 15 + times before they really decide if they like it or not. One pass/spit isn’t going to tell you much.
skreader says
I do have one rather picky eater and would never allow him to spit out a mouthful of food. The idea of having them do it 15 times really grosses me out (even if it is not in succession at a single meal). Instead, we often insist they try something new, “one bite” and swallow. If they still don’t like it – we ask them again in a few months, because tastes do change.
We have also noted that hunger and food availability influence what our picky eater is willing to try. That is often how he discovers he likes something new.
bettina elias siegel says
I should make clear, in our case, we’re not talking about disruptive or messy spitting, just the removal of something from your mouth (the way I’d tell my kids it’s OK -indeed, correct — to quietly remove an unexpected bone or piece of gristle into a napkin). And I think my son has only actually done this with vegetables once or twice in his life. I suppose if you felt your kid was going to go wild with the spitting, that would be a different story.
Karen says
We have had spitting (polite and otherwise). We have had gagging. We have seen our picky eater take her “tastes” like a pill. None of that is permitted anymore. Negative reactions to a request to taste get you more of the new food on your plate.
At this point, I do require that she chew and swallow before she takes a sip of water following a taste of new food. I am not going to believe that my 8.5 year old needs to spit out baked mac & cheese. I think she trusts us now that when we ask her to taste a new food it is not going to kill her or otherwise put her in danger. If we do our job well, we will have asked her to taste something new on a day when she is not tired, cranky or otherwise emotionally challenged.
Just the other day she served herself roasted potatoes without even a blink. She tasted them once a few weeks ago and decided they were “ok.” Progress, even if tiny.
Jen says
Maybe it’s the difference between normal picky eaters and kids who just won’t eat. My son has a laundry list of things he won’t touch and we’re having trouble keeping his weight up. I’m thinking that if a kid just going through the picky 2-year-old stage had the choice to spit things out it might become a game or become disrespectful, but honestly, if spitting (respectfully as Bettina mentioned) gets my son to take one bite of one thing he won’t look at now, I’d be happy.
For kids like mine there’s a great website that I recently found http://childrenandbabiesnoteating.com/index.html . It has all kinds of information on picky eaters and why they don’t eat and what you can do about it. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.
Thanks for the idea.
bettina elias siegel says
Jen: Thanks for the link and for the comment. I agree– people with kids who are not quite as obstinate as yours might not get the utility of this idea as much as we do. 🙂