It’s a tale as old as time. Kids poke, squash, and tear apart their food while parents tell them off to stop playing with the food. It can be messy after all, sometimes even wasteful. But did you know that letting your children have fun with their food is good for them?
Yes, and it’s a fact supported by research studies, even. According to the Developmental Science journal, letting your children treat their food and snacks creatively can help with early brain development. How? By exposing the kids to stimuli (for example, food textures) and concepts that are important during their developmental stage. The approach also supposedly encourages kids’ general creativity because they are allowed to treat their food however they want.
Moreover, research studies from the De Montfort University also state that encouraging kids to treat their food like art encourages them to develop good eating habits! Findings show that those who were encouraged to explore and handle their food are less likely to develop neophobia (aka picky eating) because they were given the space for food acceptance and exploration.
This is big news for those who have always struggled in making their children eat. As parents, our first instinct is to ask if a meal or a snack is healthy and delicious. Now, these studies suggest that while taste does play a role in encouraging kids to appreciate a meal, it is their ability to touch and handle them themselves that inspires them to snack on them later since it makes them overcome their resistance to them on their terms.
With this information out now, what can a parent do? – Well, why not expose your kids to innovative food products that will stimulate their creativity and ingenuity? Thankfully, there are snacks like Gardenia’s Pocket Sandwich, a ready-to-go snack of freshly sealed goodness perfect for merienda, that now comes in double flavors. Who would have thought that you can have a sealed sandwich, much more have it in double flavors? The snack–which is made of two creamy white bread with yummy fillings–comes in different flavors that are made to appeal to kids’ palate. Parents can choose from their two new double-flavored variants White Chocolate & Blueberry and Raspberry & Peanut Butter or go for the classic, single flavors like Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Strawberry Pastillas, and Cheese.
In addition to this, every pack of Pocket Sandwich is filled with vitamins A, B1, and B2, as well as minerals like iron which are good for the eyes and the release of energy, respectively. But it’s not only those that make this a perfect pocketable merienda for children AND parents. They can be a pretty good canvass for food discovery, too–just toast them, fold them, and squeeze to appreciate the tasty fillings in each sandwich!
More importantly, parents can now cut down their brainstorming and food prep time with these snacks and use their free hours to discover with their children. Kids will always be curious and adventurous in this stage and now you can spend your time discovering and helping them unleash their talents by making snack time easy, convenient, tasty, and creative.
Now, whoever said creativity and food can’t go together? For parents out there, you can now start your food discovery journey by grabbing a few packs of Gardenia’s Pocket Sandwich. It’s available in all leading groceries nationwide for only PHP 12.75 SRP for double-flavored variants and PHP12.00 SRP for single flavors. You can also visit Gardenia’s website at https://www.gardenia.com.ph or follow them on Facebook to keep updated on all their products.
