You know the curse, the one where your parents, in a moment of frustration, tell you that they wish that someday you will have a child exactly like you? Well, Jeff and I were both recipients of the curse as we were growing up and the result is just about the most headstrong 6 year old you can find.
Family dinners have recently become downright unpleasant with the amount of whining and complaining about the menu. Last night was no exception. Baked fish was on the menu and baked fish is not one of Avery's favorite dishes. Jeff and I suffered through a bit of Avery's complaining, listened to her proclaim that she would never eat the fish in front of her and and snickered while she demanded that I never cook fish for dinner again. Jeff, in a hurry to get out and mow the yard, excused himself early and on his way out the door issued the command that Avery not get up from the table until she had eaten all of her fish. Since contradicting the other parent in front of the kids is not something that Jeff and I do, I had no choice but to groan inwardly and prepare for the ultimate battle of wills.
Now I would like to tell you that I had found myself in uncharted territory when it comes to battles over eating but the sad truth is that I've been here before. I have vivid memories of sitting at the kitchen table, all alone, after everything had been washed and put away and trying to swallow bits of zucchini with tomato sauce (shudder) or stalks of canned asparagus (yuck). My parents also used the kitchen timer as a weapon in their arsenal. They would set the timer for a reasonable amount of time, and if I hadn't finished my food when the timer went off, I had to eat the food for breakfast...cold.
So last night my husband cheerfully mowed the yard, oblivious to the screaming and moaning in the kitchen, and I knew what I had to do...I set the timer for 10 minutes and told Avery to eat her fish or she would be having it for breakfast. After 5 minutes, Avery asked if she could just go ahead and get up because she was not going to eat the fish. 5 minutes later Avery headed upstairs for her bath and the fish went into the fridge.
This morning I carefully explained to Avery that she needed to finish the fish before she could have anything else to eat. Then came the longest 20 minutes in history along with an Oscar caliber performance on Avery's part. She gagged and choked and cried and ultimately ate the fish, leaving just enough time to eat 2 pieces of peanut butter toast before heading out the door for school.
I am quite confident that she will never eat fish as an adult after this experience, especially given that I will never eat zucchini in tomato sauce or canned asparagus. But, I've made my point with her. I understand that there are some things that people genuinely don't like so next time I will probably try and disguise the fish a bit before I put it on her plate...
2 comments:
Sarah - I so enjoy these stories (even if they do involve WW1 as Jeff put it on facebook). I sure do hope Jackson isn't a picky eater (I'll only throw that much of a fit when it comes to broccoli and I'm not sure I've found a food that Joey doesn't like), but appreciate how you handled it and will adopt those methods if necessary when that time comes!
this sounds like a familiar story of my childhood and my mother forcing me to eat snow peas and I told her it was nasty and proceeded to gag and throw up at the table. And a time she didn't cook my hamburger very well and instead of believing me, she forced me to eat it. No lie, it still had the wiggle of raw meat in the middle. As you know, I barely ever eat red meat at all, especially hamburgers!! GAG! We all seem to have a tale!
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