December 5th, 2006 by Atomictumor
I just had to do the “DON’T WASTE THAT FOOD, BOOOOOY” voice on Pigpen, who begged and begged and begged for Spaghetti O’s but then turned his nose up on them because he has to eat at the kitchen table.
Life is difficult, for the Pigpen.
—
I came back to the computer to finish writing this post, and he said “I don’t understand“, which has been my cue to go see what he doesn’t understand.
Getting Pigpen to communicate to me has been a concern. He’s always found it easier to talk to BJ, because he was ‘her’ kid. I mentioned on here before that we always had two divorce jokes:
- That we’d have a battle to the death as opposed to divorce, because it’d be easier on the kids.
- That it’d be easy to divide the kids, because Pigpen is very much a Mommy’s boy, and MastaG is very much a Daddy’s boy.
Like damn near all jokes, this has an element of truth. Luckily, BJ and I weren’t the type of people to have a divorce. It was nice, and I’m so glad to have had that in my life, but thats not the point.
The point is that Pigpen didn’t understand.
So I pulled down a chair and sat beside him, his transformer, his robot Average, and his untouched bowl of spaghetti’os and franks.
He said “Yel… Yowll.. Yelro… Y… Yelling. I don’t understand why you’re yelling at me” in a level voice, with just a hint of concern in his little eyebrows.
I said “Sweety, I don’t like it when you ask for food and don’t eat it. I don’t like food wasting, and I never have.”
He looked at me with those concerned eyebrows, and told me he didn’t want it.
Apparently, franks (which he loves in hot dog form), and spaghetti o’s (which he loves in, well, spaghetti’o form) are NOT TO BE COMBINED. Because he wasn’t touching it.
I told him that this is all he gets before supper, no snacks, no treats, no candy, no nothing. He agreed, got down, unpaused Harry Potter, and is now jabbering happily.
I’m leaving the spaghetti o’s on the table…
December 5th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
i would totally eat them if i were there … i hate the spaghettios with meatballs or worse with pseudo-meat product. most people wouldn’t admit to liking spaghettios at all but, well, i do … so there. i have said it.
December 5th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
i meant with NO pseudo-meat product … i give up typing today …back to solitaire.
December 5th, 2006 at 3:43 pm
You’re a good dad AT.
December 5th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
We buy the store brand of spagetti o’s with franks… As an adult I can will myself to eat just about anything but as a child… spagetti o franks are not real hotdogs!
December 5th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Yuck! Spaghettios make me want to retch. Pigpen, I SO sympathize with you. And good move on asking for them and then snubbing your nose, that move always makes the parents crazy. Now all you have to do is whine because the seam on your sock is annoying, and then cry because there is nothing to play with while standing in a pile of toys. Then your dad will be putty in your hands! Mwa ha ha!
December 5th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
My son is the same way, begs for something then refuses to eat it. And NOTHING is supposed to touch anything else. Condiments are the only thing allowed on bread, condiments being of course limited to ketchup or butter. If a vegetable touches anything else, the other food is rendered completely inedible. Hot dogs are to be eaten without anything on or near them and must be cut into bite sized chunks. Meals are fun at our house since the above rules frequently change or receive little addendums at his whim. I feel for you.
December 5th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Ah yes, begging for something and then eating one bite and pretending it’s poison. Sounds like life at my house with my 4 year old daughter. She exists on butter on saltine crackers, macaroni and cheese, Lean Cuisine fettucine alfredo, yogurt, and little Hostess donuts. Really. I sound like the crappiest mom in the world when I type that out, don’t I? Sigh.
December 5th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Yep Chris…you win.
December 5th, 2006 at 5:06 pm
I live by the philosophy, they will eat it if they are hungry enough. My 7 year old is such a picky eater, so that is the “game” we play with him. It is there to eat, but that is IT. He also has a habit of walking away and coming back to eat later, so we finally had to tell him that when you leave the table, the meal is over until the next serving time. We went through one day of crying and begging for snacks all day and the next day was a entirely different tune. He’s still picky, but he also knows that once your hind end leaves the room, so does the food from the table!
You are doing a great job, AT!
December 5th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Sounds like my house AT. I like how you sat down with him and communicated… after the yelling bit. Whenever I fail to do that, I always feel horrible about it later. Way to go. ;)
December 5th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Better to let this slide. You don’t want to get into a control fight around food with a child as it can end in all kinds of eating/not-eating issues. Ask Netmom about her nephew, bless his heart.
December 5th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
I’ve gotten my little girl in the habit of eating in front of the tv, talk about bad mommy. Her dad is very strict on food, such as if you don’t eat all your breakfast, and want something else five minutes later : too bad, you have to wait till lunch. Me I’m a softie, but I do try to offer at least fruit or yogurt for snacks, but occasionally the whining wins, and she gets chips or other “junk”, because I can’t stand the chaos that ensues, if I put the foot down. I also don’t want to make food an issue, or a power struggle, I already see a tendancy for her to eat out of boredom. She doesn’t have siblings so if I’m busy doing “whatever”, and I can’t “play”, then she wants to eat and watch tv, she needs a brother or sister. We are working on it, have been for a while, but I’m 37, so no fertility drugs for me.Don’t want twins and a single at 40…..scary.
December 5th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
The O’s make me barf. Franks in their grilled form on bun are alright. But mixing the two — AT, where is your head at?
December 5th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
Of course I don’t have kids, but I think some kids have issues with some foods being combined. If I’m not mistaken, I think Melissa at Suburban Bliss’ daughter is like that.
On another note, the robot named Average amuses me to no end for some reason. Heh.
December 5th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
I’m going on STRIKE with Pigpen! No franks in the O’s, No franks in the O’s, it makes us want to blow……………..chunks! Aw, com’on dad, go back pluck the fanks out without him knowing, rewarm it, tell him its a new can of O’s. lol (easy for me to say since i’m sitting over here and not there.) :-)
December 5th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Southerncharm — it is too late — they have touched each other. They will never be the same.
tg
December 5th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
If my daughter were to have done that to me I would have either done the same thing as you or picked up the bowl, carried it to another place, picked out all the franks, then taken it back to her ; ) I swear, kids take away years of our life as quick as they add them…
December 5th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
You know, compared to other diversions your kids could be drawn to like homicide, drug addiction and grand larceny, failing to eat your beanie-weenies seems like small change to me.
Just sayin’.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
LOL Timsan, okay, your right! The franks broke the cardinal rule of food eating. One species of food must at all times stay on his/her side of plate/bowl in order to be eaten, otherwise you will be disposed of in a horrible way. :-) I forgot that rule, thank you for reminding me!
December 5th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
So I like to promote grand larceny to my children Joel, are you making some insinuation?
December 5th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
One time I took the hotdog out of the bun, washed the ketchup off, put it back in the bun and told my son it was a new hotdog and bun. One of the highlights in my career as a mother. BTW, he ate it.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Have you ever tried peeling a banana, pulling down four strips rather than just the regular three, and offering it to a two year old who has never seen a banana done that way? Oh the screams, the tears, and that was just from me. Seriously, our bananas were wiped out in a cyclone, and were costing $13 a kg. And to have my son refuse to eat it because it didn’t look right? I think you worked it out pretty well AT.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
AT, if they intend to resort to grand larceny in order to support you in the manner to which you intend to become accustomed, I say it’s all good.
December 5th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Pigpen, I’m with you on the spaghetti-o’s and franks thing.
Dad, I’m with you on the you asked for it you better darn well eat it thing.
Well done!
From a Mommy of a six year old who will say “I’m full;what’s for dessert?”
Grrr….
December 5th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Ahhhh! You break the force in two. The space time continum will diverge — the O’s and Franks shall never meet or else grave things will happen they will. Heaven and earth will be torn in two and there will be a great earthquake.
December 5th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
I keep meaning to tell you this, Jake. I eat those little jello’s at lunch every day, ya know, the ones that come in a pudding type container? Every day he comments on it, saying, “I want my daddy to get those at the store”. This has been going on for a couple of weeks. He’s very excited about these jello’s for whatever reason. I’ll just go to the store and hook you up with the goods.
watch them wiggle…see them jiggle. and all that.
later AT,
love, PT
December 6th, 2006 at 6:11 am
Dude! They’re in the friggin fridge! He sees em everytime he opens the fridge up and ponders what he’ll eat (maybe I just need to push him more in that direction…)
December 6th, 2006 at 7:36 am
Timsan, You just found the answer to life. hehe AT- keep on keeping on. Wow, it’s early this morning, not sure what i’m doing up. I think it was the whole frank and O’s thing and the pondering of life.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:38 am
In his defense, the franks in the spaghetti-o’s are gross. they aren’t like real hot dogs. yuck yuck yuck.
plain spaghetti’o’s however, yum. a staple of my children’s diets.
they like the ravioli in a can as well.
am I outing myself as a bad cook? perhaps. but the franks are gross.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I like the old ‘You’re not leaving the table until you eat this and I don’t care if the various ingredients are touching’ line. Seems to have failed on my siblings, though. My 18 year old younger brother will only eat melted cheese one pizza.