How quickly we forget what it was like to be sitting at a table staring at broccoli or brussels sprouts, crying and telling our parents that we didn’t want them, or that we did not like them. I remember doing that with my brussels sprouts till they were so cold that they made me gag, but I had to sit there till I ate them. Why? Because there were starving kids in Africa! I think I was only in the 6th grade when this happened to me, but it is burned into my memory like a cattle brand on the ass of some prime A beef!
Something I never thought of as a kid, is that, maybe I just didn’t like vegetables and was more of a meat eater. Or, maybe I am a carb kid like my oldest son. He takes after his mother with his overwhelming need to have pasta, noodles or toast. As where my youngest loves meat and vegetables, this is how I know he is not mine. But that is another blog on another site somewhere…
I find myself demanding my kids to eat their dinner and stop crying, well, not both kids just the one that doesn’t like vegetables. I know he is like me to some extent, but I sure don’t remember being so crazy about it. Crying while he is eating is not a pretty site, might I add. Just tonight he was nibbling on a piece of broccoli so as to make it look like he was taking a bite, but just then it fell on the ground. This made me really upset, and the dog really happy… I guess that is the one plus-side to the whole thing, my four-legged vacuum cleaner of a dog. He was in and out like lightning, no sooner had the food hit the floor and there is this black blur and then a burp. Just like that, the floor is clean.
I used to play this game with my dog at home, I would sit there till my parents got tired of watching me. They would leave the room, still yelling mind you, but from the living room. I would give bite by bite to my dog so that I could get up and maybe pee before bed. Sitting there for hours was a massive pain! I think I have a new way to deal with it, you see, my parents would put said food back in the fridge and warm it back up for lunch or dinner the next day. What if I just told my kids that if they didn’t eat, then I would put it back in the fridge for them to eat later, then tell them that they weren’t allowed to have anything for a whole day unless it was there dinner?
I think it could work, especially if I have them watch videos of starving kids in Africa at the same time. That is it! No food for 24 hours plus “feed the children” footage. This will make them thankful for their dinner, no?
