Feed me, damn it!

The title... When I was pregnant and got a crazy craving, I would joke around with Geeky Entrepreneur and would say "feed me, damn it!" Now it's "dang it," if anything!

Our little television-obsessed child is in the process of developing a habit, if we let her, that is.

Yes, she loves watching TV. But she has pains-in-the-ass parents that keep an eye on it and get her away from the TV and redirect her – drawing, painting, playing outside, going to the park, etc. This weekend she is getting to watch more TV than usual because all of us are sick. No one feels like being outside.

But that is not the habit I was writing about above. Picture this:

Little Ari sitting in front of her Daddy’s netbook, watching an episode of Cayou, Super Why, Thomas and Friends, whatever it might be…

Amor Chiquito: Da-e, I want pear, please.

Daddy: Ok, let’s go downstairs and get a pear.

Amor Chiquito: No, Da-e, you get pear. I wait here.

What an imp! How about no, me thinks!

Since way before Amor Chiquito was born I thought that we would always eat together, as a family. At lunch time, it is almost always just Amor Chiquito and I, but, still, we eat together. I remember noticing, as a teenager, that my family did not eat together. I don’t want that for my family. I strongly believe that dinner time is the perfect opportunity for a family to reconnect at the end of the day, to keep a strong and healthy relationship going, to talk about the ups and downs of the day.

Furthermore, what is this crap about go make me some food and I’ll sit here and wait for you?! I am a mom, and, as a mom, my job is not to be my daughter’s maid. My job, as I see it, is to feed her healthy, yummy food, but to also teach her that we work, as a team, to get what we need or want.

So, here is the plan. If she is healthy enough to run around the house, then she is healthy enough to go downstairs and help. She can grab the pear, rinse it, put the stem in the trash after I cut the pear. She can put her bowl in the sink. If she is sincerely feeling like crap, feverish, etc., then she can sit at the dining table and wait for mom or dad to bring her some food.