Photo: Revolutionary Food
“Are you listening to me?”-A sentence often heard in American families. This question is most often asked by parents to their children to ensure that our children hear our warnings, instructions, guidance, suggestions, reminders… But let us take a moment to imagine what it would be like if we change the world. Ask around . If we were not parents and adults who kept giving orders to our children to ask them to listen, but instead stopped and listened to them once, what would we learn?
As someone who has established an organization that designs, produces, and provides healthy meals for young people across the country for most of my career, I know that listening to children is a major factor in our success and influence. From the day we founded the company, we have been incorporating children’s opinions-customer opinions-into our overall approach to cooking design, menu planning, and school meal service.
When we wrote the business plan for Revolution Foods, the first people we brainstormed about how to change the school lunch landscape were students. We asked them what they liked and disliked about school meals, and from these conversations we gained more insights than any adult “experts” we consulted in the process. For example, many adults tell us that children do not like healthy food. Instead, children tell us that they like fresh fruits and crispy fresh vegetables. Who do you think we will listen to when designing the first menu? From day one, every menu we provide for children features high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables.
When entering a new city or region in the country, our chef first talks to the children in the region, so they may start designing a suitable menu for the region. They collect ideas and opinions on local cuisine, regional trends and flavor characteristics from young people who will eat our food.This method has led to the development of the most popular local recipes in our area, such as the Jambalaya in New Orleans, the Korean BBQ Beef Rice Bowl in San Francisco, and the Mumbo Chicken in Washington, D.C.
It is not always easy to listen to a child’s voice. In addition, listening to your child’s voice is not the same as doing what the child says. Sometimes you have to read the lines carefully to understand what they want to say, explain their message, and decode their opinions into actionable ideas. Children may have great ideas, but they are not always proficient in the best way to express them. Take the kid who said “I hate broccoli” as an example. We didn’t just remove broccoli from that kid’s menu. “I hate broccoli” may mean “I don’t like the kind of broccoli I tried last time” or “I have never eaten broccoli” or even “I don’t like the way my grandmother prepares broccoli.” We dig deeper, interpret and decode, and introduce a variety of new broccoli production methods to make this young man familiar with this bright vegetable.
As our country continues to fight the biggest public health crisis we face, children suffer disproportionately due to school closures and other restrictions in daily life. Following adult quarrels and worries, researching and reconsidering the best way to fight the pandemic and its aftermath, children’s voices have been clearly missing in the past 18 months. In fact, as a society, when have we heard the opinions of children?Although parenting guidance has changed since the days when children were supposed to be seen and not heard in the mid-20th century H In the century, as a society, we still haven’t really listened to our children. If we do, we may open schools sooner, and as we look at addressing climate change and its impact on the future, we may consider our priorities in different ways.
Although it sounds clichéd, children are our future. As we adults steer the ship that will take them into adulthood, perhaps we should stop from time to time to let the children express their opinions on the direction we should turn. Although we may be busy blindly navigating to a stormy future, children may discover a new and clearer path to a brighter path.
(Kirsten Saenz Toby Co-founder and Chief Impact Officer of Revolution Foods. )
