Monday, October 26, 2009
NaNoWriMo
November is National Novel-writing month! So give it a try. 175 pages in a month... local libraries are providing space and seminars for enhancing the experience. Good luck.
Green Beans
We recently revised our family policy on dinner food. I realized I was doing a lot of extra steps getting dinner to the table because I was making a meal for Aaron and I and then making plates of hotdogs cheese ketchup and carrot sticks for the kids. In my mind I wasn't being child centered because I wasn't changing what I ate to accomodate their pickiness. However you can see this was quite a blind spot. The subject kept coming up with other parents and we began to see how we were enabling their pickiness, surprise: maybe unecessarily. Whoa! That was a serious realization.
I did not want my kids to be a pain when they went to other people's houses. I did not want them to be rude or dictatorial for others, but I was letting them dictate to me. So we dug deep and announced one evening to the boys that we were going to require them to eat whatever we were serving and if they didn't eat it for dinner they would see it again for breakfast, and lunch etc. There was a bit of groaning, but dinner was satisfactory that night except the veggies. Corn is apparently toxic. Benji fussed and we stood firm, and eventually it went down the hatch. Come to dinner the next night. Benji does great, despite his desire to pick out the tiny inner bean only, he eats the whole beans. Ian refuses to eat the green beans. So Aaron tucks them into the fridge and we pull them out for breakfast the next day.
Ian tends to prefer non-breakfast foods, so this wouldn't be too bad, except he calmly refuses all food if it starts with beans. We do gymnastics, on 0 calories. He falls asleep on the way home (unheard of). He sleeps over an hour. When he wakes I encourage him to eat the beans so he can have other food. I suggest creative ideas: swallowing with milk, dipping in ketchup/Ranch, salt... He refuses with tears and an iron will. It's getting time for dinner, and now it's been 24 hours since he's eaten. He was allowed a little apple juice and water. I'm making pizza and he loves to help in the kitchen so he is spreading sauce and putting on toppings. Aaron is shredding Mozzarella. Ian is extremely hungry, but staring at him from his place at the table are four green beans. We interview Benji about any tricks he has for eating food he doesn't like. Aaron suggests melted cheese on the beans. Ian says "no" to all our ideas.
All at once he says, "Can I have them with shredded cheese?" Aaron and I stare at each other in disbelief. In shock I finish putting the pizza in the oven. Aaron takes Ian over to the table and asks,
"Do you want it next to the beans or on top?" Once the cheese is properly topping the beans Ian throws them into his mouth one by one, and not just the four I downsized for him to eat, but a few more from his original portion, without hesitation. Then he says,
"I want more! I want more beans for breakfast and lunch and dinner!" I almost faint, I want to scream and cry and pull out my hair. As with most parenting moments, it takes more out of me than it does the kids to set and reinforce boundaries/standards. Fortunately Aaron is there and plays it cool, going over to the cupboard to see if we have another can of beans.
Alas, we are all out of beans, and though I thought maybe this was a big joke to him and he really didn't want more, he continues to ask for them. When Aaron and I debrief, later we are both shocked and laughing; my eye is twitching. It was like Green Eggs and Ham in real life.
I did not want my kids to be a pain when they went to other people's houses. I did not want them to be rude or dictatorial for others, but I was letting them dictate to me. So we dug deep and announced one evening to the boys that we were going to require them to eat whatever we were serving and if they didn't eat it for dinner they would see it again for breakfast, and lunch etc. There was a bit of groaning, but dinner was satisfactory that night except the veggies. Corn is apparently toxic. Benji fussed and we stood firm, and eventually it went down the hatch. Come to dinner the next night. Benji does great, despite his desire to pick out the tiny inner bean only, he eats the whole beans. Ian refuses to eat the green beans. So Aaron tucks them into the fridge and we pull them out for breakfast the next day.
Ian tends to prefer non-breakfast foods, so this wouldn't be too bad, except he calmly refuses all food if it starts with beans. We do gymnastics, on 0 calories. He falls asleep on the way home (unheard of). He sleeps over an hour. When he wakes I encourage him to eat the beans so he can have other food. I suggest creative ideas: swallowing with milk, dipping in ketchup/Ranch, salt... He refuses with tears and an iron will. It's getting time for dinner, and now it's been 24 hours since he's eaten. He was allowed a little apple juice and water. I'm making pizza and he loves to help in the kitchen so he is spreading sauce and putting on toppings. Aaron is shredding Mozzarella. Ian is extremely hungry, but staring at him from his place at the table are four green beans. We interview Benji about any tricks he has for eating food he doesn't like. Aaron suggests melted cheese on the beans. Ian says "no" to all our ideas.
All at once he says, "Can I have them with shredded cheese?" Aaron and I stare at each other in disbelief. In shock I finish putting the pizza in the oven. Aaron takes Ian over to the table and asks,
"Do you want it next to the beans or on top?" Once the cheese is properly topping the beans Ian throws them into his mouth one by one, and not just the four I downsized for him to eat, but a few more from his original portion, without hesitation. Then he says,
"I want more! I want more beans for breakfast and lunch and dinner!" I almost faint, I want to scream and cry and pull out my hair. As with most parenting moments, it takes more out of me than it does the kids to set and reinforce boundaries/standards. Fortunately Aaron is there and plays it cool, going over to the cupboard to see if we have another can of beans.
Alas, we are all out of beans, and though I thought maybe this was a big joke to him and he really didn't want more, he continues to ask for them. When Aaron and I debrief, later we are both shocked and laughing; my eye is twitching. It was like Green Eggs and Ham in real life.
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