Loved your article on obesity! Own a hip & healthy kids’ cafe in Madison, WI (beansproutscafe.com) and see first-hand everything you mention.

A family walks in and despite the fact that we have all sorts of food on our family menu, the parent asks the child, “Would you like mac & cheese or a pizza?” (At least our versions are healthy!)

Parents do a great job of filtering what they believe their children will or won’t like. And then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because you’ve never given your child Indian food, he ends up not liking Indian food. Or because you assume your baby won’t eat any baby food with flavor, he grows up preferring bland tasting food.

Experts have found that children develop their taste preferences by the age of 4. So get them while they’re young. In our toddler cooking classes, parents are always amazed to see how much kids like pesto. Pesto is just one of those items parents usually filter when offering their child options.

Keep up the great work. Bean Sprouts is a big fan!

Kelly, that is really interesting. I confess that as health and fitness conscious as I am, I’m somewhat guilty of “filtering” myself when it comes to kids and food, and am trying to get away from that. Thanks for the kind words. If I’m up your way, I will definitely stop by!!