When My Daughter Does Lunch

Ice-cream for lunch

Yesterday I had planned on revising some stories I have been working on (trying to stay on top of this weeks Next Steps). My son was at SportPlay camp this week so I only had the two girls and they both seemed to be content in their play.

As I was working through revisions on one of my stories, my seven year old started asking me for lunch. I put her off saying it was too early (it was only eleven o’clock) and said she had atleast sixty minutes before I would even go in to get lunch ready.

Ten minutes later she was asking again, asking what we were having for lunch. Of course she didn’t like what I was offering and stated that she was going to make her own lunch. I was so frustrated with the constant interruption that the words out of my mouth, before I had a chance to think about them, were ‘You think you can do better? Go ahead. Make your own lunch.’

Well my daughter jumped at the chance. And when my brain realized what my mouth had said I almost corrected my mistake. But I hesitated. This isn’t the first time my kids have bugged me about what I’ve made for them: ‘Not pasta again’, ‘You know I hate chicken’, ‘Why can’t dad make dinner tonight?’ I thought maybe this would be a lesson for my daughter. Maybe if she made her own lunch she wouldn’t be so picky next time I made something (I know, who was I kidding).

To my surprise, my daughter started with salad, tortilla chips and an apple. Wow! Maybe some of my parenting has rubbed off, in a positive way. As I started to compile my acceptance speech for my Mom of the Year award, my daughter asked if she could have some ice-cream. Okay, so she wants a treat. If I was her age and in control of my lunch I’d probably try to push the envelop and ask for something I wasn’t allowed to have. Ice-cream done, she had a croissant with cream cheese…..and icing sugar! Then it was a popsicle. When she asked for another popsicle I almost said no, but I hestiated. (I know what you’re thinking, hesitating the first time got me into this mess).

Okay, change of plans. My daughter didn’t seem to be learning the lesson of appreciating her mother’s food, but maybe she would if I let her eat a whole bunch of crap. Sometimes kids need to learn things by experiencing it themselves. An upset tummy from eating too much bad food = a revelation that mom is right.

Well as you can probably guess, my daughter enjoyed her experimental lunch so much that she asked to do it for dinner and breakfast and lunch….My senses finally kicked in and I said no.

So I guess there will be no award in my future.