This happens ALL the time. I will be preparing lunch for myself and my darling children and of course one of them will ask for the impossible. It’s most often Pixie, asking for a grilled cheese or PBJ sandwich… sans a certain important ingredient as seen above.
Feeding young children is always challenging. When Princess was very young, I used to struggle to find things she would eat. As a toddler, she’d get a plate of sliced fruit, shredded cheese, crackers, all sorts of things I knew she liked to eat and yet she’d still turn her nose up at it. Catering to her like this meant I had to prepare two meals, one for the adults and one just for her, and that’s just exhausting of course. So one day I just snapped. I put together a plate of what we were eating, cut up into toddler-sized tidbits, put it on the highchair tray in front of her and said, “Eat or starve. I am done jumping through hoops for you, kid.”
Obviously she has not starved. But to this day we do still have our battles over food.
Princess/Pixie: “How much brocoli do I have to eat to get a treat tonight?”
Me: “All of it.”
The kids: “All of it?! But that’s a lot!”
Me: “No, it isn’t. I only gave you what I know you can eat.”
The kids: “But I can’t eat all of it. I’m not hungry anymore.”
Me: “Then I guess you’re not hungry for a treat either.”
Don’t you just love how logic works in a situation like that? Of course, they will continue to bicker and barter over the whole thing. Personally, I don’t care if they get a treat or not. They don’t need the sugar like they need the green veggies. But Hubster will sometimes relent and cut a deal, so the whining continues at every meal, the kids knowing that some days they might get what they want and some days not. It just depends on which parent is most likely to rule the table that day.
Anyway, I hope you have a lovely day. Be sure to enjoy your lunch. And if you figure out how to make a grilled cheese with salami, pickles, jam, sprinkles, syrup and no bread, let me know!
