There are also times when I feel like handing my kids a wooden spoon and telling them to fly at it. Certainly, they don't seem to care for what I offer them. So do it yourself boys. Elio's two- his menu would be lollipops, grapes and honeycomb cereal. Matteo, probably Kinder Surprises and Nutella. Out of the jar. Bread? Cut the middle man.
Yep. I have picky eaters. So picky in fact I have been known to take a certain child into the doctors office and demand medication. If not for him, for me. Please. Since almost the beginning of his time, this child has made the Italian in me boil. It is ethnically, genetically and culturally ingrained in me. EAT SOMETHING!!! I can't help myself. Despite reading books about how to get your kid to eat, and the cognitively understanding the reasons for not forcing your kid to eat, I can't accept it. There is almost no one in my life that hasn't at some point in time assured me that this is a phase, but it has been long enough that I am quite sure I will be making my son a grilled cheese sandwich at his wedding. That will be the last one though. After that, he's his wife's problem. Recently I do have to admit, there has been some progress, but still, not enough to sustain this kid. You see, produce, anything that is grown from plant matter, fruit or veggies no difference, is verboten on my son's plate. He won't touch it with a 10 ft. pole. Heck, he won't touch it with an 11 ft. pole. I have made it my mission to find ways to get it into him. I am an alchemist... I turn fruit and veg into baked goods, sauces and breakfast foods. Sometimes it works, most often, it doesn't. We get by. But if I sound slightly coo-coo for cocoa puffs to you, there is the explanation. There is also no one in my life that has asked me, why make anything special? If he won't eat what you make him, tough, he can go hungry. But that's just it!! The kid is Ghandi... his passive resistance technique is perfected, and he has no issue with hunger, it only makes him more victorious.
This all is rather mystifying as we are good eaters. We shop the perimeter of the store. I have never bought a jar of baby food in my life, for either child. We eat well balanced and healthy, home-cooked meals. This is not to say we eat strange and hard to pronounce and spell roughage... I don't expect that of my kids, but you'd think being born into a family where good food is abundant, and mealtime is more than sustenance, (it is social and an integral part of each day), that they'd not be so resistant. Oh well, it is what it is. Everyone has their struggles. Until then, I shall be satisfied to feed others.
Tonight for instance. My dad, Ren and Bill are coming for dinner. Usually I don't feed guests peasant food, but tonight I am. You know, the cheap, healthy and hearty sort of thing? They've been working hard. They need some "stick to the ribs". So chilli it is. The irony of this is not lost on me. One of my most loathed foods as a kid was anything involving beans. I HATED beans. I perfected the "mouthful-of-beans-mum-I-have-to-go-to-the-bathroom" trick. You know the one? When you spit the mouthful into the toilet and give it a good flush to so you don't have to swallow it? Of course you know the one. Ok, so maybe finicky eaters is karma. What is it my mum says? "If you spit in the air, it lands in your face." At any rate, I like making chilli. I like freezing chilli. And in fact, I no longer mind eating chilli. It is seriously so convenient and easy, and so nutritious, how can you go wrong? Trouble is, I am incapable of making a reasonable amount. When I make chilli, I only know how to make enough to feed a small continent. Tonight's batch will serve tonight's meal for four of us (you know my kids won't touch it!!) and probably will allow for at least 7 foil packages of enough chilli for two people. I'm sending it home with my sister who is busy with the farm these days- who can't use a freezer full of ready-made meals right?
In the meantime, despite being a downtrodden soldier, oops, I mean mother, I shall persist. One day they shall get bored of hot dogs, grilled cheese and cereal and see things my way... right? I sure hope so! I love those little knuckleheads heads too much to give up without a fight at least. So I keep on keeping on. That's just the way it goes.
Happy trails!
I hated making two meals, so my rule was always, "Eat what I cooked or it's bread and peanut butter". The bread was always whole grain, the peanut butter didn't have sugar in it. Believe me, bread and peanut butter for 3 days and they want something else. Not that I had picky eaters - but a body craves vitamin c after a while and they'll end up eating a tomato eventually.
ReplyDelete