#MumStory: Her Picky Daughter Sparked Her Food Business
After struggling with her daughter's picky-eating habits, Serene Sim found some convenient solutions and turned it into a business
By Terri Kue -
#MumStory is a series by The Singapore Women’s Weekly to uncover the underrated and underreported moments in motherhood and parenting — because we believe every mum has a story worth telling. Got a story to share? Email us at sww@sph.com.sg or slide into our DMs on Instagram.
We've probably all dealt with kids being selective about their food. Whether it's vegetables or certain types of meat, children can be stubborn when it comes to what they don't want to eat. Serene Sim knows firsthand the struggle of managing a picky eater. Her six-year-old daughter used to be one.
From the time she was a baby up till about three years old, Serene's daughter Liriel would take an hour to finish her food or leave half of it uneaten. Needless to say, Serene found the feeding experience frustrating. However, it sparked a business idea, leading Serene to start E-Essential SG, an online business on Shopee that sells convenient food products for children, such as pasta sauce, ready-to-cook porridge and powdered ingredients (eg. garlic, anchovies, mushroom, chicken) for whipping up meals in a jiffy.
The mumpreneur shares with us her experience handling her daughter's eating habits, as well as how she manages her time between running her business and looking after her girl.
It might be because of peer influence; people around me were starting to have kids. And it got quite "boring" every day facing only my husband at home.
What do you wish you knew before becoming a mum?
Before becoming a mum, I thought that taking care of babies and young kids is easy. I thought: all they do is eat, sleep, and poo. But after becoming a mum, I realised that parenting isn't so straightforward. I have to guess what my daughter wants, what she thinks of, and why she is angry.
I founded this business in April 2019 while I was employed as an HR executive in the semiconductor industry. After two to three months, I tendered my resignation so I could focus on my business, and have more flexibility with my time.
At the start, I had most of the product stock at home and in a self-storage space. So when I packed orders, I was able to do it at home and look after my daughter at the same time. One or two years later when I needed to work in an office, I rented a space and factored in a space for my daughter to play.
I didn't set out to be an entrepreneur, but I found a business opportunity when I came across my first product, salmon floss, in Bangkok. Over there, I saw that they had more variety when it came to baby food options, compared to Singapore.
At that time, there really weren't many choices here. The supermarkets offered puree, puffs, and cereal, all of which are targeted at younger babies. I had to search online at Taobao and Shopee for alternative food options. When my girl turned one, I had to use raw ingredients (like rice, vegetables and minced meat) to prepare a meal for her. It was tedious and wasteful at times, as we had to buy full portions of ingredients and she didn't eat a lot.
When I added salmon floss to my daughter's food, she finished the entire meal!
Since I do not have additional help (other than childcare), I think that healthy and convenient food alternatives are beneficial to working mums like me. When I was in the workforce, I was the main caregiver of my girl. I would knock off at 5:30pm and rush back to fetch her, bathe her, and cook for her. At times, she could only eat her dinner after 8pm. It's really a rush for parents to prepare meals after work.
Having ready-to-cook meals or ingredients like powdered food and pasta sauce allows parents more time to spend with their kids. This is especially so for those who have no helper or grandparents to help them out.
What was it like to manage a child who is a picky eater?
When I prepared food for her in the past, about half of it would go to waste. It was very frustrating. She would also take very long -- up to an hour -- to finish her food.
To manage her picky eating, I had to go through trial and error, distract her with snacks, or cheat a little by giving her some screen time as she ate.
As time went by, I roughly started to understand what she hated and what she liked. The most challenging part was when she was six to nine months old.
What advice do you have for those struggling with their child's picky eating?
I would suggest that parents keep a chart or notebook. Whenever you introduce new foods, take note of your kids' eating speed and their reaction to the food.
I've also found that having sweeter vegetables like pumpkin and sweet potato in a meal helps to increase appetite.
Balancing time spent on business and my girl. Even though my time is flexible, I attend to queries outside of work hours. At times, I go back to the warehouse on weekends though I try to set aside the weekends for my daughter.
Do you feel any mum guilt when you go back to the warehouse on weekends?
Actually, I do. But sometimes we cannot wait until Monday to start packing orders. Now, I limit myself to two hours of work during the weekend and try to get my girl involved to lessen the guilt. She would help me with tasks like labelling and shifting lightweight boxes. This way, she also learns the value of hard-earned money.
What does work-life balance mean to you?
To me, a good work-life balance is when you don't bring home your work, work mindset, and emotions from work.
In the past, I didn't have a good work-life balance. I didn't restrict my working hours, and I would bring my work home and work till the middle of the night. Back then, I was more tense, and didn't care about my health.
I didn't realise how hard I was working until I fell sick. That was a signal to tone things down. Eventually, I learnt to relax when it comes to business, and enjoy my life outside of work hours.
When it comes to motherhood/parenting, what kind of support would you like more of?
As I am self-employed, I have the flexibility to take care of my girl if she is ill or school is not open. For office workers, I hope their workplace would allow them to work from home if their children are sick or during occasions like school closure, where possible.