Years ago my cousin told me that when she was a kid she tried to get out of eating something that her mother made for dinner. The rule was that you couldn’t leave the table until you had finished your dinner and so they sat…and sat… and sat, because my cousin refused to eat the offending food. 

Finally, she got an idea. She told her parents that she needed to go to the bathroom. They agreed to let her go and she grabbed her plate. When they asked what she was doing, she told them that she knew she needed to eat and so she was taking her food with her to the bathroom so she could eat in there. Amazingly, her parents let her! 

Now, she and I both knew that her parents probably agreed just to get her out of the dining room before they started laughing. She, of course, went into the bathroom, flushed the food down the toilet and returned to the table proclaiming how delicious the offending food was.

Now, my daughter has heard me tell that story and I let her hear so that she knows that it won’t work. But that is not how a child’s mind works.

Tonight, she did not want to eat peas. I can’t blame her, but my husband chose peas tonight, and peas we shall eat. (Or at least the kids will. I don’t need permission not to eat mine). So she whined about it and begged and then, while I was in another room and my husband was on the phone, she made her move. 

I caught her walking towards the bathroom with a napkin in hand. I asked, “What are you doing?” And she turned to me with a mouth full of peas and a napkin loaded with the rest and managed to say, “I’m going to the bathroom.” I said, “Oh, you’ve heard that story way too many times to think I’ll fall for it.” And she just flashed her best Cheshire cat grin and returned to the table.

I told my daughter that she was going to have to get really creative because her father and I were kids and we know other people who were kids, so we’ve either tried to get out of eating or we’ve heard how other people tried. Nevertheless, we know the angles and it’s a slim shot at best to get past us. 

I was wrong however. She ended up negotiating with my husband to eat green beans instead. Touché.