Food Fight

I made and froze a zillion blueberry pancakes last week. Odin has decided they are his new favorite food. Frozen. For snack, lunch, breakfast, dinner. He wants a frozen pancake. Whatever, kid. As long as he's eating, I don't really care what he wants. I informed him that I was going grocery shopping in a couple of days. I asked if he would like anything. Chicken. He wants chicken. We had wingettes, or party wings or whatever you want to call them, for dinner tonight. He ate them with so much fervor that Joe and I pretended we were cavemen. The small boy literally ate all the meat off those bones. I looked over at Eli's plate and there were pieces of chicken still on the bones.

I was made to eat all my dinner. Even if that meant me crying at the kitchen table until, what seemed like, midnight. It was bedtime, at least. I remember cramming food into my pockets and then flushing it. Night after night I would sit with a plate of cold, unappetizing food in front of me. I can especially remember the high school years. I wanted to become a vegetarian...like it's a career or something. My parents said no and I had to eat everything that was served. It was awful. I could dramatize the scenario and say I still have nightmares about it. I don't. But, it would make it more dramatic, though, wouldn't it?

I don't get into food fights with my kids. Well, I will put food on their plates and if they want more of something I ask them to try something untouched first. They're good about it, too. I fortunately have children who like more than just chicken nuggets...most of the time. If they don't want to eat something, that is fine. However, I will not prepare something else for them. They can get something fresh from the fridge that does not need any prep work...apples, pears, plums, etc. If they want a carrot, I refuse to peel it. I have no idea where my thought processes come from. Probably because they helped me make dinner and I don't want to have to make another one aside from that. Eli has assisted me in creating that nights' meal from beginning to end. All the while he's talking about he loves the different ingredients. When it actually comes time to eat..."This is yucky. I want something else." Sorry, Charlie. You're on your own.

I also have a thing about wasting food. If one of them specifically asks for something, like a banana, then takes on bite and declares that he is all done, I freak. Not so much on the outside, but inside. I can always freeze the banana and use it in a smoothie, but there are certain other things they'll ask for that are not so easily frozen. Like a bowl of oatmeal. "Nah. I think I want toast instead." Nope. You asked for it specifically...it now belongs to you.

I give choices. I am all about choices. It drives the husband bonkers. They are little people. Little versions of us. Why shouldn't they have a choice in anything they do? Sometimes they can't. Like, if we're going to someones house as a family. Eli really cannot stay home alone...no matter what he thinks.