Sometimes I wish everyone had the same idea as me when it came to feeding kids. I’m all about diversity, but wouldn’t it make it easier on somedays if we all just knew to give children food without chemicals?
Here
’s our family’s latest triumph:
Last night I asked my oldest daughter, Julianne (6), if she had any snacks at the neighbors house. It had been a long day of playing and I had taken my youngest, Johanna, with me to the store so Daddy was in charge of Julianne. She said “yes” and looked down shamefully. She told me she had junk food chips and a Poptart.
I asked her what she thought of these choices and she said “not good and not organic”. We discussed how sometimes it’s o.k. to have not healthy food because the time and place don’t allow a perfect choice. Then we talked about how since her house is just 5 doors down that coming home to get her own snack would be a good idea. I also explained to her that it’s o.k. to share anything in our house, but that the neighbor kiddos should ask their Mom or Dad before eating here too.
So today after school it was another trip down to the neighbors for a quick playdate before soccer. The girls had made themselves a sandwich for a snack after school so I didn’t expect them to be hungry. However, 30 minutes later Julianne came home asking for two apples. One for her and one for her sister. She said “everyone is having a snack and I remember what you said so I told them I would be right back and came home to get my own snack”.
AWESOME! Here I was deciding how I was going to break it to the mainstream Mom down the street that we work really hard to eat a chemical free diet and that poptarts weren’t in our vocabulary. Instead, my daughter decided to make that choice for herself. A definite proud Mommy Moment!
That’s great that your daughter was taking her own initiative
It’s true though, we never know what other people can feed children. It’s great that you’re able to teach your daughter about the importance of eating snacks at home.
UPDATE: Had to let the neighbor Mom know that I don’t give my kids artificial colors as she was handing them some red drink in a tall plastic squezee container. She just couldn’t believe that I go as far as reading the labels of everything and I entertained her with fun facts, such as “vanilla pudding has red dye in it” and “standard chocolate syrup has mercury in it”.
As for my oldest, Julianne (6), she saw the snacks coming out at the “artificial neighbor’s house” and ran right home to grab an organic chocolate chip kids snack bar. YUM!
This is AWESOME!!! I have a 2 year old and she has limited experience with non organic food, ie traveling and not having enough snacks. I have been wondering if it’s possible that my daughter will be able to with stand the temptation/pressure of eating or sharing in snacks that other kids have. My worst nightmare is the oreo cookie mom who thinks that’s a good afternoon treat!
Thank you for sharing a wondeful story and Kudos to you for raising awesome girls!