Less Can Be More

Abstract

My six-year-old son has a stubborn palate. Attempting to diversify his diet, my partner and I have tried it all. We've coated veggies in cheese, filled each compartment of his lunchtime bento boxes with intriguing flavors (freeze-dried strawberries!), and involved him in meal prep. We've subscribed to kid-friendly meal-delivery services, watched cooking shows together, and pointed out “your little sister's eating it.” No luck. Even if you don't have a picky eater in the house, you've encountered this situation before. When you want to improve something—whether it's a kid's diet, your own parenting, or the design of a room—you think about how to change things from the way they are to the way you want them to be. While people can get very creative in their solutions, my colleagues and I have found that one approach is consistently overlooked: subtraction. We think first about adding, whether it's piling on more options (the bento boxes), more information (the cooking shows), or more motivation (the sister). But in our eagerness to add, we neglect the other way to create change—by taking things away. For instance, removing bread as the default snack presented to my son led to more improvement than all of the additions combined. Now, bananas, rice, and granola have made their way into the regular rotation. With any luck, he will be eating vegetables by the time he turns 10.