Children's Picky Eating and the Role of Family Environments

Student's Name

Maureen Lyons, Minnesota State University - MankatoFollow

1st Student's Major

Family Consumer Science

1st Student's College

Allied Health and Nursing

Students' Professional Biography

As a recent graduate of Minnesota State University, Maureen Lyons has personally struggled with picky eating her entire life. It is her personal challenges with food that inspired Ms. Lyons to do this research, to write about it and to teach others about working with picky eaters to make small accommodations to allow freedom of choice and comfort to explore new foods in a safe environment, free of teasing or punishment for not being part of the clean plate club. Ms. Lyons lives in Owatonna, MN and works for Learning ZoneXpress, publisher of nutrition and wellness education resources.

Mentor's Name

Heather G. Von Bank

Mentor's Email Address

heather.von-bank@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Family Consumer Science

Mentor's College

Allied Health and Nursing

Abstract

Picky eating is often seen as a temporary phase that children go through in the developmental process. While some children never exhibit picky eating behaviors, others seem to get stuck in the tendency of judging foods, which they have never tried, based upon a pretense that the food might not meet with their satisfaction. Learning more about children’s preferred food groups and types of foods, along with the family environmental factors experienced by these children may help to understand ways to support children who struggle with picky eating. Introducing children to new foods within a positive atmosphere, where they are involved with food preparation, may encourage taste acquisition and promote more varied and healthy food preferences.

Recommended Citation

Lyons, Maureen (2015) "Children's Picky Eating and the Role of Family Environments," Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Vol. 15, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56816/2378-6949.1189
Available at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur/vol15/iss1/3

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License