Interesting related article in today's NY Times:
Looking Past the Children’s Menu
The article is about a restaurateur in NYC who does not offer a children's menu at his restaurant. He'll make certain accommodations for children, such as offering appetizer portions of pasta as a main meal for small children, but there's no kid's menu offering chicken nuggets and burgers.
He also makes his children try a wide variety of foods at home. The children aren't always happy about it, but they aren't allowed to say no - and as a result, they are adventuresome about food. It struck me that the interview was conducted over dinner, and the reporter's own ~4yo twins (used to chicken fingers and fries) followed the example of the restaurateur's children (who are older) and ate what they were served.
I'm reminded (rather forcefully) of my own childhood. I ate what my mother cooked, whether I liked it or not. She would not cook a separate meal for me, unless she was cooking a very spicy curry, and even then all she would do was pull out a lightly-spiced portion for me before adding the hot spices to the main pot. Result: I'm a very adventuresome eater, even more so than my own parents - I eat sushi, which they won't touch with a barge pole (they won't even eat veggie sushi).
Edit: Also, when I was 10-11 years old, when my parents and I went out to eat and I was given a children's menu, I would say, "May I have the
real menu please?" Maybe I came across as a junior bitch, but at that age I had no interest in connecting the dots with a crayon while waiting to get some chicken nuggets - I wanted real conversation and normal adult food.