YUMBLE

EMPOWERING KIDS TO MAKE HEALTHY MEALTIME CHOICES

BY LAUREN BENS

Getting kids to eat healthy is not always easy. A mom’s “healthy” can be a kid’s “yucky.”

Supermom Joanna Parker became acutely aware of this when she decided that she wanted to spend more time at home following the birth of her second child. So, she set out to find a solution, to make mealtime a bit more yum and fun, and created Yumble, a kid-approved food delivery platform. Yumble not only encourages kids to eat better, but it also rewards them for changing their habits.

Yumble began with a post on a Facebook group for Upper East Side moms and continued to grow from word of mouth. The “panda plates” were a big success. “Our customers were my beta group as I wore many hats while working to build the company,” Joanna said. She also went from edible experiments with moms and their kids to taking a bite out of the big time when she appeared on Shark Tank. This experience allowed the entrepreneurial mom to expose the brand to a much larger audience.

But it soon became apparent that Joanna’s best intentions did not always produce the

desired results. Kids have minds of their own and rejecting mom’s meal choice is a way to express their independence. So, Joanna pivoted, introducing what she calls “child-led eating.” The concept is a follow-on to baby-led weaning, which involves not spoon-feeding your baby before you start giving them table food. “The baby-led weaning idea is to let your child be in charge by listening to their bodies and controlling their eating. With Yumble, children choose their menus and are rewarded for making healthy choices. Our goal is to ensure children eat “MY GOAL IS TO healthy at every meal EMPOWER and learn how to eat CHILDREN TO healthy for the rest of MAKE HEALTHY, their lives,” Joanna SMART CHOICES said. IN FOOD AND IN “My goalisto GENERAL. WE empower children to WANT OUR makehealthy, KIDS TO BECOME smartchoicesin INDEPENDENT, foodandingeneral.We THRIVING ADULTS.’’ wantour kidsto become independent, thrivingadults.As parents, weoften deprive our children of control,especially atmealtime.Studies show, though,that the more involved kids are in their choices, the more likely they are tofollow through on those choices and put up less resistance.These children grow to be moreindependent, better problem solvers, and have stronger self-esteem.” Yumbleis also introducing anew prize platformwhichearnskidspointswhen they choosehealthymealsonline,try new foods at home, and engage in numerous other healthy activities.The points are intended to makeYumbleextra palatabletobothkids and parents. Serving kids from 2-12 with more than70differentmenu options,accumulatedpoints canbe redeemedforattractive valuableprizes,whileteaching kidshow to eat healthy at every meal. “There arecountless studies aboutthe value ofpositive reinforcement,” Joanna said. “And so atYumblewe empower kids by rewarding them for making healthy choices.”P yumblekids.com