Making assumptions about what parents want for their kids

Posted on 9 November, 2016

I’m a nutritionist and I’m making assumptions about what parents want.

And I think they want healthy food options when they eat out with their kids.

My job is to help people create a personal eating pattern to reach certain goals and maintain lifelong good health. These days, from regularly presenting my Feed Fussy Toddlers and Kids workshops, 50% of my clients are under the age of four. Most of who, if left to their own devices, would build their diets out of crackers, yogurt and fruit.

Feeding toddlers and kids, especially fussy ones can be extremely difficult

For many parents, each meal time is simply about survival and giving their kids what they know they will eat. Something’s surely better than nothing, right?

Forget relaxing family dinners. The dining table becomes a battleground. You bribe, beg and plead with your children to try just ONE piece of broccoli; only to find that 20 minutes later, everyone’s crying and the only one eating the broccoli is the dog under the table. Argh!

And what about eating out at restaurants? When my kids were a little younger, I used to say that dining out was an opportunity to pay lots of money to parent my children in public. Ah, the memories of restaurant tantrums…

Despite the craziness that is parenting and more specifically feeding your kids, deep down, I believe that all parents want what’s best for their kids.

We’ve heard enough public health messages to understand the importance of daily habits to support healthy food choices, now all we need to do is put it into practice.

A major challenge experienced by parents is the availability of healthy options for your kids when dining out at restaurants

Don’t get me wrong, I know that chicken nuggets and chips is not going to send your children into a downward spiral of poor health. Eating out and grabbing this kind of food as a treat, is perfectly fine every now and then. However, I’d like to argue that a treat doesn’t always have to be unhealthy food.

What if eating out together as a family was a treat and included healthy food at the same time? What if the food available to order for your children was healthy, but also fun, interactive and showed that someone had actually taken the time to stop and think about your children when they designed the menu?

I for one would love that. I’m happy to order hot chips (and eat them) occasionally as much as the next person, but I love the idea of connecting with my kids and family over a restaurant meal that also shows my children that fun and healthy can co-exist in the same universe!

It turns out that not only will I get to do this with my family in the not so distant future, I’m actually heading up a project to make it happen!

My business, The Healthy Eating Hub, has partnered with the Canberra Southern Cross Club to refresh their kid’s menu across their three major locations and create a new experience for kids when they dine out with their parents. Not only will we endeavor to ensure the new menu is as healthy as possible, but it’ll be delicious, fun, interactive and offer something new for the next time you think about dining out with your family!

A huge part of this project relies on the fact that we’re making assumptions about parents and what they want for their children. But, good business decisions shouldn’t be made on assumptions, they should be based on fact. And so, I’d like to know:

Do parent’s care about the availability of healthy food items on a kids menu?

If you’re a parent reading this article, do you care? Whether you do or not, I’d like to hear from you.

In order to answer this question, I’m conducting formal research with some help from the University of Canberra. To do this, I need your help. I’m calling all Canberra-based parents of children aged between 2-16 years old to complete a 15 minute online survey.

You’ll be asked about your restaurant dining habits, your family and what’s important to you when eating out with your kids. We’ll be asking you about a news kid’s menu and whether or not it’s something you’d buy and how you’d rate it’s healthfulness. To say thank you for your time, all participants can choose from one of the following incentives below. Just follow the instructions at the end of the survey for how to claim.

• One free kid’s meal with an adult’s meal purchased
• One free combo of their choice with a Henry’s meal purchased
• 50% voucher code to use with any of The Healthy Eating Hub’s group sessions, eBooks or products

To complete the online survey – please click HERE.