Why You Gotta Be So Rude .… Food?

Cue the music and imagine it. You take a bite of food, and it’s rude! It’s gross and feels like you just bit into a ball of yarn. It’s just downright disrespectful to your palate! Taste buds completely insulted! Your immediate response is to gag or spit it out. This is how it feels to be a sensory eater. Certain foods - the way they look, smell, or taste will cause them to say that they’re not hungry (when in fact they are) and walk away from their plate. This is the reality for my two girls  and admittedly, me. I was the kid sitting at the table long after dinner was over because I refused to eat my liver swimming in mushrooms and gravy. Yum. 

Sensory eaters have sensitivities to certain foods. For example, while a layered lasagna could  be a delicious family favorite to most, the crumbly meats, chewy noodles, gritty ricotta cheese,  and lumpy sauce may be too much for a sensory kid to eat. It could cause that sensory overload, and fight or flight mode for your kid. It’s up to parents to understand this and validate their sensory eaters. Pressuring sensory kids to eat will only cause them to be uncomfortable around food and associate eating with negative experiences.  

Oftentimes, kids are labeled as being picky. It’s used in a negative way to describe the reasons that they won’t eat certain foods or even wear certain clothes. I decided to take that same  word and spin it in a positive light. And alas, Picky Pals was born. I wanted meal and snack time to be a fun, yummy experience for my persnickety eaters.  

Yes, food can be rude, but when you make meal and snack time a family-shared  experience, where your Picky Pals get to help make food art, it will lead to food exploration. So allow your Picky Pal to explore yummy adventures in the kitchen with you and expand their  persnickety palates.