StoryEcho: A Generative Child-as-Actor Storytelling System for Picky-Eating Intervention

2026-04-09

AI Summary

This work proposes a generative storytelling intervention system designed to address childhood food neophobia, which not only restricts dietary diversity but also frequently triggers mealtime conflicts within families. Positioning the child as an active agent in the intervention, the system delivers personalized narratives during non-meal times and incorporates lightweight post-meal feedback to drive iterative story updates, thereby enabling cross-contextual and sustained behavioral support at home. By dynamically generating storylines based on children’s actual food choices, the system fosters engagement with less-preferred foods. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate that this approach significantly increases children’s willingness to try such foods and effectively alleviates parental feeding-related stress.

Abstract

Picky eating in children can undermine dietary diversity and the development of healthy eating habits, while also creating recurring tension in family feeding routines. Prior interventions have explored food-centered designs, enhanced utensils, and mealtime interactive systems, but few position children as active participants in intervention processes that extend beyond single mealtime interactions. To better understand everyday responses to picky eating and child-acceptable intervention mechanisms, we conducted a formative study with caregivers and kindergarten teachers. Based on the resulting design considerations and iterative stakeholder review, we designed StoryEcho, a generative child-as-actor storytelling system for picky eating intervention. StoryEcho engages children outside mealtimes through personalized stories in which the child appears as a persistent story character and later shapes story development through real-world food-related behavior. The system combines non-mealtime story engagement, lightweight post-meal feedback, and behavior-informed story updates to support repeated intervention across everyday family routines. We evaluated StoryEcho in a between-group field study with 11 families of preschool children. Results provide preliminary evidence that StoryEcho can significantly increase children's willingness to approach and try target low-preference foods while reducing parental pressure around feeding. These findings suggest the promise of generative child-as-actor storytelling as a design approach for home-based behavior support that unfolds through recurring family routines.

Problem

• picky eating
• child-as-actor
• storytelling intervention
• feeding routines
• dietary diversity

Innovation

• generative storytelling
• child-as-actor
• picky eating intervention
• behavior-informed narrative
• family routines