Ron Craker

Yesterday I was ironing my shirt getting ready to go to church.  It was a short sleeve shirt and when I laid it out on the ironing board to start ironing my brain stopped my hand just inches away from pressing the iron to the shirt.  I didn’t tell myself to stop…my brain did it.  Then I noticed that something didn’t look right.  I could see the buttons of the shirt (meaning it was oriented on the side I wanted to iron) but I could also not see the arm of the short sleeve (which meant it wasn’t oriented the way I expected).  The iron was getting heavy in my hand so I had to set it down as it dawned on me that the sleeve of the shirt was inside out.  Simply reaching inside the sleeve hole and pulling out the fabric set everything right again and I could go ahead and iron.

This is the way human brains work.  They have so much information to process they automatically clump and categorize features (such as visual images) and then only alert us when the picture is out of whack.  As an example, you have probably walked up the driveway while looking at your hands as you thumb through the mail you just got from the mailbox.  Your friendly cat slipped out the door behind and is now deciding to meet you in the driveway and rub up against your leg.  Before he touches you your peripheral vision sees the obstacle and suddenly you stop even before you know why you are doing it.

Enter the picky eater or problem feeder.  They have the same brain functions and theirs are highly attuned to changes in food and food presentation.  Perhaps they are protecting a strong gag reflex, are hypervigilant to avoid certain tastes or smells, or their oral sensory system can’t handle certain textures of food.  Ironing showed me that our senses will alert our brain and take evasive action even before we are conscious why we did what we did.  Unlike an adult, young kids can’t logically connect the dots (it was the cat at my feet that made me stop so fast that I almost fell).  They also can’t rationalize that just because I threw up once  around the same time that I ate (_____ fill in your child’s most scorned food) that doesn’t mean that was the cause or that it will likely not happen again. Many young children need multiple exposures to new foods as they desensitize to them and gain confidence and enjoyment.  Picky eaters with strong food defenses will take much longer to accept new foods into there diet. 

My wife (a Board Certified Pediatric Dietitian) and I (Pediatric Psychologist and Family Coach) are building a step-by-step guide and support system using the leading ideas in helping picky eaters and problem feeders.  We are looking for a few active and curious (a.k.a. exasperated) parents to field test our system at no cost.  Everything is done from home using the Internet and phone so there are no appointments to schedule.  If you are interested in being called for a short phone interview (if our system isn’t a match for you we can always provide a helpful referral or next step anyway) then email us and give us your number and best time to call.