For many parents, mealtime can feel more like a hostage negotiation than a pleasant practice.
The average American parent spends 67 hours per year — nearly three full days — bargaining with their children over food, according to a new survey.
In those 67 hours, you could have napped, binge-watched TV or finally started that passion project. However, you spent all that time trying to keep your little one alive.
As you may have already guessed, vegetables are at the heart of the conflict. The survey of 2,000 American parents found that 44% worry their child's pickiness over food negatively affects their nutrition.
"The average parent strikes five bargains with their child per week, and dinner is the most common meal for kids to push back on, with kids around age 5 being the pickiest," reads an article on the survey conducted by Talker Research on behalf of SeaPak.
Parents — prepare to feel seen. The top reasons children reject food are:
- 37% — not wanting vegetables, or "I hate veggies!" in kid-speak
- 33% — not liking the smell, or "It's stinky!"
- 32% — Not liking how it looks, or "It looks NASTY!"
- 14% — refusing to try something new, or "I don't wanna!"
And there's no shame if you must compromise just to feed them, parents. Sometimes the illogical, difficult aggressors win.
Some foods are nearly guaranteed wins. The most accepted meals are pizza (76%), chicken nuggets (73%), fries (72% and macaroni and cheese (66%). Seafood ranked respectably, with shrimp (32%) and fish sticks (31%) being reliable bargaining options.
Parents also use different strategies to cope with picky eating.
"Many parents report trying to engage with their children rather than punishing them for pushback. Parents try getting their kids involved in meal preparation (36%) and introducing new foods gradually (34%)," the article reads. "They also try teaching children about the benefits of nutrition (28%), creating a positive, pressure-free mealtime environment (26%) and modeling positive behaviors by trying new ingredients for the first time with their kids (26%)."
