Though many of them still have to stay at the table until they've finished their broccoli, today's kids have a lot more say about what makes it onto their plates. Kids' influence on family household purchases like groceries has grown exponentially over the last decade, so to find out what the real gatekeepers are letting into the cart, we turned to our Reactorz panel.

A whopping 80% of our tween respondents shop for groceries with their parents at least some of the time. They often make purchase decisions about snacks, lunch foods, fruit and dessert items, with several being allowed free reign over the whole bill. Our panelists say they look at both the product and price when considering whether to pick something up, but they have clear brand favorites and rarely go generic.

Promotions featured on product packaging can grab a kid's attention, if it's an item they already like. A full 69% of Reactorz kids say they have entered a contest they saw advertised on a food package, and the vast majority of this connected generation prefers to enter on-line rather than mailing in an entry or dropping it off in-store.

As the line between grocery store and department store continues to blur and both channels carry an increasing amount of food and non-food items, the family grocery-shopping trip has become more interesting for kids. While the majority of non-food purchases are toys and magazines, many kids also ask for books, CDs, videos and clothes. Kids love the fact that they can get these products at grocery stores, and many wish their local store had more of the same.

The traditional, weekly, structured shopping trip complete with itemized checklist has been consigned to the past. Today's time-pressed families grab a trip to the store whenever they need to, sometimes making several outings a week. Most kids don't help their parents plan the meals before or while grocery shopping, but they still have to do their share and help out with meal preparation.

When they make specific requests for food products, kids are rarely turned down, unless the item has too much sugar, or is too expensive. Dunkaroos is a kid-targeted product that was cited a few times as a failed request on both grounds. There are so many snack foods on the market these days that kids couldn't agree on their favorites. General categories like chocolate, chips and cookies came up most often, with ketchup voted the best chip flavor and chocolate chip winning out on the cookie front.

Where are the teens on this issue? Most don't like grocery shopping but will go with their families if its the only way to get the food that they like. Many have some of their own income and use it to stock a private hoard of snacks in their rooms. Snack food choices are even more diverse than with the tweens with more teens having discovered the benefits of healthy eating and choosing fruits and vegetables over those chips and cookies the younger siblings are munching on.

Insight: Don't underestimate the consumption sophistication of kids and teens. They are very conscious of product value, price and quality, and they tend not to be swayed by licensed characters on food products.

For more information:

• If you're not sure what a Dunkaroo is, there is an image of it on the General Mills site at Dunkaroos Image.
• How did the kids become such great consumers? In past articles we've talked about how media savvy they are because of all the media they consume. That includes advertising. PBS and other organizations are helping teachers teach media education with activities such as "Don't Buy It! Get Media Smart.".
• You can read a good summary of the influence of tweens on parental shopping, also known as "Pester Power" or "Kidfluence" at Media Awareness Network's article on "How Marketers Target Kids".

To find out more about Reactorz contact us online at www.reactorzresearch.com. Or call 416-516-0705.

Reactorz is a youth-powered research engine. Our online community of kids ages 7 to 22 provide their opinion and insight into current events, issues, creative & product design, entertainment and communications strategies. Reactorz parent company Big Orbit gathers this information and empowers clients by connecting them with this target group through strategic consulting and creative development. For over a decade, Big Orbit has worked with corporate, government and non-profit organizations such as: Kraft Canada, Junior Achievement of Canada, Concerned Children's Advertisers and Key Porter Books. For a complete list of clients and case studies please visit BigOrbit.com or ReactorzResearch.com.