Musings of a Mom

 Buddy is sick. He has some sort of stomach bug. Most people, when they are sick, tend to eat less but Buddy takes after me. When I am sick I cannot seem to eat enough. Buddy isn’t eating much, but he’s craving every kind of junk food imaginable.

Let me just start out saying that our kids eat pretty healthy. They don’t get a lot in the way of junk food unless they go to visit Grandma, then they are pumped full of cookies, ice cream, chocolate and other goodies because she is sure they are being deprived.

So, as Buddy is on a very bland diet right now and still having a difficult time keeping things down, he is making demands for future meals. He has informed us that when his stomach is better he will eat: “King Cuisine” (the frozen food meal is known to the rest of the population as Kids Cuisine), mini Pizzas and Nerds candy. Now, he has never had any of these foods (he’s had pizza, but not the specific ones he’s ordering) but he is SURE they are as tasty as the commercials claim them to be. He has wholeheartedly bought into the advertising that airs during the various shows he’s watching and yes, when he’s sick and can’t play, we let him be amused by the television. 

At one point, my husband gave Buddy some toast to eat. Buddy said he wanted sugar on it. There was no sugar on it, but to appease this highly cranky child, my husband lied and said, “There is sugar on it.” Buddy said, “I want a PILE of sugar on it.” Then he said, “I want French toast with a bowl of syrup, maple, a bowl of sugar (powdered), and a plate with bread cut up.” My husband quipped in with “I think you need to need to call Grandpa for that,” to which Buddy replied, “Get him on the phone.”

I’m hoping that this bug passes quickly, because Buddy can eat only so much “soup juice” (broth), rice and toast and is becoming crankier by the minute. He is a far more pleasant to be around when he’s healthy. But I do find it interesting that what he craves is more mental than physical. It just shows what a powerful tool advertising is.

 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.