A few weeks ago a young man came over to go to the lake with us and spend the night. He’s a nice kid, has good manners and was fun. But Alex and I were both horrified, yes, that’s the word I’m going with, when dinner time rolled around.
The menu was pretty simple. Roasted chicken, green beans with bacon and baked sweet potato fries with ketchup. Sandor was excited but our 14 year old guest, who’s a big ol football player, looked concerned. He sheepishly said, “I don’t really eat that kind of stuff.”
“You don’t eat chicken?”
“No ma’am, well, only fried chicken, like chicken strips.”
“Will you try one bite?”
Reluctantly, he nodded his head yes. I cut off a piece of white mean with some crispy skin.He stuck it in his mouth and swallowed but was shaking his head no the entire time. The texture of actual chicken was so foreign and strange he had a hard time swallowing it.
“I’m really sorry,” he said. “I brought some food from my house, though.”
Let me go on record, my husband Alex, makes awesome roasted chicken. I could tell he was about to get pretty angry, so I rubbed his back, until the boy disappeared into Sandor’s bed room. “It’s not his fault and he’s obviously really embarrassed. If you want to be mad at somebody be mad at his folks. This is their doing.”
Sandor came out, sensing there was “an issue”.
“When you go to Hunter’s house, what do you eat?”
“Junk mostly I guess. Cereal, pizza, fast food, soda.”
“So nobody makes any real food?”
“No ma’am. Hunter’s really embarrassed. He brought a pizza and some bagel bites with him though.”
I told Sandor to have him come out and eat with us. We were all gonna watch a movie and eat dinner. I offered to put Hunter’s food on a plate but I promise, this is true. He sat at the far end of the couch, eating his pizza out of his back pack. And he looked like a beaten dog. I felt so sorry for the kid.
Parents, make your children eat real food! Don’t put them in this situation! Don’t wait till they are seven or eight years old or you will have an epic battle on your hands. Make them eat normal, healthy food when they are babies. Good Lord, I know you love your child but don’t let them grow up on a diet of processed junk food.
What would happen if you put pancake syrup in your gas tank all the time instead of gas. Well that’s what feeding your child junk food all the time is like. Sure everyone eats a Happy Meal, Nacho Dorito Tacos and stuffed crust pizza some times. Don’t cheer for your kid when they eat an entire bag of chips. Being overweight in school can be really hard. Kids are mean.. Just stop it, ok?
Your kids will learn to eat and like what you teach them to eat and like. You have all the power. Use it responsibly, Spider-Man.