But while the Food Cubby has been hailed as genius by many, there are a growing crowd of people outraged by the gadget - believing that parents shouldn’t ‘coddle’ children by giving into their food preferences.
Wrote one: ‘Or you could be a parent with a backbone... tell them to eat it or nothing.’ Added another: ‘I got a better solution for "picky" eaters.. DEAL WITH YOUR FOOD TOUCHING!!’
A third wrote: ‘People need to remember who is the child and who is the parent!!!’
Said another: ‘This is so crazy. People need to stop coddling their kids. My son has autism and hated his food mixing. Guess what, he needed to get over it, so he could function in society. 10 years later he is ok with his food touching. Can you imagine how it would look at age 13 if he were to use those at school? Haha!’
But the criticism brought on a barrage of comments from supporters of the product, claiming that haters needed to be more sensitive.
Said one: ‘I've been a special education teacher for [18 years]. The first thing I learned was, "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." Another thing I learned about autism is to be extremely careful with food. It is possible to create such food phobias that a kid with autism would starve rather than eat. Not go hungry, but actually, starve. What you are advocating for is dangerous.’
Added another: ‘Some kids had a hard time with sensory of food touching and therefore can't eat it if it was touching. I was, and still am, like that. There are many foods I wont touch if they are touching something else. Like peas and mashed potatoes.’
The Food Cubby retails for $14.99 and ships to Australia - head here for more information.
