Observations and Interviews

Cooking Claire

Cooking Claire is a mother of three and a child psychologist. Aside from raising her own kids she has experience with elementary and middle school kids. We discussed what is difficult about choosing a meal for a picky child and also what could make the process easier.

Planning meals is largely done trial and error, it’s hard to find something that is popular especially when there is more than one child (she had one child who only ate cheerios for a while). Nutrition is very important, but its hard to get kids try healthy foods. To fix this issue, Cooking Claire lets each kid pick the side dishes they liked separately and combine it with an entree. Because she ends up tailoring the meals to the children’s needs, she wants a single place to hold what all of the kids liked. The most important thing for Cooking Claire was having the whole family together at the dinner table. Claire told us that the kids also like having the power (or allusion of power) of being able to pick the meals themselves.

What we learned from Claire:

• It's difficult to find meals based on what ingredients kids like, especially when there are multiple kids to think about.
• Kids like to have power over what they eat--they like to feel in control.
• Having picky children creates a lot of extra work for the parent!

Babysitter Britney

Babysitter Britney babysits kids from age 2-9 for many different families. First, we interviewed her on what she did to make meals and what it is that made it difficult. The most important thing is giving the kids a choice, she said, even if it restricted the babysitter for the types of meals they had to make. Giving two choices to the kids was considered best since the kids can decide quickly.

Britney also thought it would be useful if she could know what the kids want to eat again, especially since it’s easy to forget what a kid likes after babysitting many children. To get ideas for meals, she said she talks to her friends about what the kids liked in the past. According to Britney, the ideal situation is the kids pick a meal that she could easily find the ingredients for or buy them. Then she wants the kids to tell her if they liked the meal, so she plan for next time.

What we learned from Britney:

• Kids like to be able to choose what they are going to eat.
• It's easy to forget what kids like, especially when dealing with multiple kids.

Choosey Susie

Choosey Susie is a 9-year-old who goes to an elementary school in upstate New York. Her family eats together every night, but she doesn’t always like what they have for dinner. When she was younger, she used to make faces and refused to eat certain things (and sometimes still does). Sometimes instead of complaining she makes her own food to eat, like peanut butter sandwiches.

Susie is quick to judge certain foods. For instance, if she hears that anything is made of squash, she will refuse to eat it even if it tastes completely different from the foods she is used to. Susie is also very competitive, so when her two older brothers dare her, she will be more willing to try new things (although this doesn’t always work). She has certain foods that she eats all the time, and admits that she is not very adventurous.

What we learned from Susie:

• Some kids are receptive to incentives/competitions for trying new foods.
• Kids like to have some control over what they are eating.
• Kids can get into ruts and may not know what other foods are out there.
• Kids judge food for reasons other than taste, such as texture, the name, preconceived notions, and appearance.

User Classes

Caregivers

This class includes parents, babysitters, relatives, teachers, or anyone who takes care of children and has to feed them at some point. Just like Cooking Claire and Babysitter Britney, these users have the difficult task of preparing meals for children. If they deal with the same children repeatedly, they also have to try to remember what the kids liked and didn't like, and figure out what they can cook for them.

Children 5-10 years old

Whether an only child or one of many, children like to have control over what they eat, and can be very choosey. They don't always know what foods are even out there, and make snap judgments on what they like, sometimes without trying the food.

Needs and Goals

After interviewing various people from our user classes, we generalized about the following goals and needs of our users.

Caregivers

• Vary meals regularly.
• Get kids to try new foods.
• Tailor meals to multiple kids.
• Track of what their child likes.
• Find new meals that fit their childrens’ likes.
• Give their kids some control over what they are going to eat.
• Share information and ideas with other caregivers who are facing the same problems.

Children

• Control over what they eat.
• Don't want to be forced into trying anything
• If they don't like something, they don't want to eat it again.
• Wish their parents would stop making things they don't like.