If you’ve ever been a new parent (or been around one, or babysat for one), you’d be all too familiar with the downright chaos a toddler can bring to the dining table.

To your credit, you’ve probably tried every trick in the book to get them to eat right. Pretended the spoon was an aeroplane delivering food, promising them TV time after, maybe even changing up the dishes you cook. But have you considered what you’re serving food on?

Surely, you might be thinking, tableware would never matter to kids as long as they’re cute. At that age, most don’t even know the difference between a plate and a bowl!

Well, baby accessories specialists Little Bearnie beg to differ. Where tableware does little more than elevate the sensory dining experience for us adults, it does much, much more for cognitive and nutritional development in children below the age of 10:

1. How could a plate possibly solve this problem?

How food is presented to children can impact their appetite for it, even if it’s something they don’t quite enjoy. The key is to useplates with dividers to segment and serve different parts of a dish separately. Toddlers and growing children almost always eat more of everything this way — including their dreaded veggies and fruits! Multiple tiny portions give the illusion that a meal is easier to finish than one large portion with everything mixed together.

2. Sure or not? Is there even a science to this?

Yes, there is! We’ve spent seven years studying this too. Focused research has shown that kids are more likely to eat from a plate filled with a variety of choices, which is a clever trick of the eye that divider plates use. And because the food items are laid out separately, it also tickles the child’s inner desire to understand their surroundings. They’ll get curious to learn more about the kind of food they’re eating and also learn to eat independently more quickly if a full set of tableware is present.

3. Are there any other considerations when it comes to tableware for my kids?

Besides how the tableware is designed, the other main consideration is the material it uses. Baby products are commonly made with plastics, but I recommend opting for silicone to give your little one the best of food-grade safety. Silicone is free from hazardous compounds like microplastics even at high temperatures, is just as durable as plastic, and lasts longer due to its malleable properties. This makes them completely dishwasher-safe and much easier to clean so that parents can get a much-deserved break when it comes to washing the dishes!

Having spent the last seven years building a product ethos around helping children thrive through items they interact with daily, Little Bearnie is the homegrown brain behind the award-winning teethers that feature Singaporean delights like the gem biscuit and boba!

The brand has most recently developed a full set of silicone tableware for children — featuring none other than the Divider Plate, available in nine soothing pastels and with an adorable bear motif! Other highlights in the series include:

• High-Back Silicone Bowl with a suction base to prevent spillage
• Toddler Training Cup with double handles and a removable lid/straw to double as a regular open cup as children grow older
• Silicone Bib with a catch-all pouch to collect any stray bits of food!

On that note, we’d like to invite you to speak to Valencia Chen, founder of Little Bearnie, who can share more about:

• The research and thought processes that go into developing products like their latest silicone tableware set
• Balancing Little Bearnie’s ethos for educational experiences with creating practical items for growing children
• The pressure to uphold top-grade quality and safety in an especially demanding consumer group (i.e. parents who have high safety concerns)
• Takeaways from growing Little Bearnie from scratch as a single woman without a baby of her own, and how she turned that into her brand’s product advantage

About Little Bearnie:

Established in September 2016, Little Bearnie is a baby accessories store that believes in creating everyday products to shape meaningful, educational experiences for growing Singaporean toddlers. From teethers and baby swaddles to tableware and on-the-go sets, Little Bearnie’s entire range of products is made with child-safe toxic-free materials, love, and a whole lot of cuteness! The homegrown brand has various community awards to their name, including Best Collection of Stylish Baby Teething Accessories in 2020 for their local foodie twist on conventional teethers. To learn more and keep up with their latest products, please visit: https://www.littlebearnie.com.