If I remember correctly, my sister holds the record for the most epic food battle with my mother. As I've stated, we didn't have much money while growing up and my mother, being a practical woman, kept to a tight budget. To this day she plans and budgets every meal served at her house. We never wanted as kids, we didn't even realize that we didn't have much money. That realization did not come until high school. There are plenty of stories about that though and some that may even make it here, at a future time.
Today I'm talking about dinner time. On special occasion, my mom would buy meat. We didn't eat top shelf meats, like we did, while spending time at my dad's with our step family.
So on this special occasion, my mom made my brother, my sister and me pork chops. My mother was and is a big proponent of boxed foods. So when I say we had meat, it usually meant of the shake and bake variety. My mom could shake and bake anything that once had pulse. On the night in question, my sister had to be about 12, my brother 14 and I 6, so forgive my recollection if it is a bit fuzzy at times. I don't know why I remember and it has no relevance, but on this particular night, the vegetable was green beans. My sister refused to eat her supper, so after the typical bout of starving children guilt, my mother decided it was time for a stronger tactic. She told my sister she would not eat anything else until that pork chop was finished. Obviously my sister refused and was sent up to her room. My brother and I began to finish our dinners with hesitation, but when my mother announced pears for dessert(canned, a family favorite), my brother and I cleaned our plates and savored our sister-less pears. After asking to be excused we began to play. The rest of the night went as normal, some TV and to bed.
The next morning, my brother and I awoke to my mom and my sister fighting. Not eating dinner, she got up early for breakfast. She did not count on my mother's creative use of Saran wrap. When my brother and I got dressed and made our way to the breakfast table, cereal bowls were waiting at our places, but at my crying sister's place was a perfectly preserved pork chop with a side of green beans. My mom won that battle and my sister went to school without breakfast.
When school was over, my mom gave my sister a talk about the value of money and food and cooked her a fresh dinner.
The battle played out again tonight, the players and situation were different though. My daughters and I had just gotten back from the supermarket. When I asked them what they had wanted for dinner, of course Lizzy's suggestion was Wendy's. I made a command decision and narrowed the choices to Italian sausage or hamburgers. Hamburgers were overruled, so I made sausage with potatoes and onions in gravy(tomato) served on fresh baked Italian bread. Emily and I enjoyed it thoroughly, Lizzy decided tonight she was going to take a stand against the home made food at daddy's house. Bad move!
Her mother will make different food for Lizzy than the rest of the family, but that will not happen at daddy's. Elizabeth complained that she did not like the sausage and should not have to eat it. The next question was a bad one. "What else can I have to eat?", my right eye twitched and she followed with, "Can I just eat the bread?". I asked her, "What is my name?", with an aggressive confidence she said, "Reed", I retorted, "Good, my name is still not Monty Hall, and this is still not, 'Let's Make a Deal', no dinner means no dessert in this household and you know daddy has the best desserts.". Lizzy's young mind started racing, she needed an out, "I'll eat anything else but sausage.", my cruel parent gene kicked in and I tried to think of the nastiest Fear Factor thing that I had in the house, "Two options Lizzy, take it or leave it. If you leave it though, your sister and I will be having a great dessert and you will be having the same sausage sandwich for breakfast. She stood up without being excused(she knows I hate that.), and went up to her room saying, "Leave it.".
I'm a parent who believes in a well balanced non-cornsyrup, non-boxed, non-frozen, non-fast food meal for my kids, but I do buy desserts when they are at the house. We just picked up baked goods at Two Little Red Hens Bakery last night. Lizzy came down from her room after about 15 minutes and Emily and I decided it was time for dessert. Lizzy was standing by her conviction until the Little Red Hen turtle bar came out. The Carmel, nuts, chocolate and brown sugar crumbs were calling Lizzy. She meagerly asked, “Daddy if I try the sausage, can I have dessert?”. That would not have taught her the lesson so I insisted she eat at least one entire piece of sausage. She took her first bite without event, she even acted as if she liked it, but ¾ of the way through, the tears started to flow. My elder daughter razzed her, but I stopped that with a look. Lizzy came up to me and hugged me saying, “Daddy, I know you are doing this because you love me, but I really don't like the sausage.”. I asked her why the sudden reaction after almost finishing and she just held me and cried. These are the times as a parent, I wish I could be like so many other parents that don't care enough and give into their children, but I can't. I explained to Lizzy that sometimes in life, you have to do things you do not want to do and try things that you do not want to try. To her horror, I ate a piece of the turtle bar, leaving less. She took a step back, put the sausage in a piece of bread and stuffed it in her mouth, she chewed and chewed. When she was finished, I asked her, “Was it that bad?”, she looked at me and said, “Not really, but next time I'll choose something different. Can I have dessert now?”. I gave her the rest of the turtle bar and we all ate popcorn as we watched a movie.
I know I said earlier on, that in the epic battle between my mom and my sister, my mom won the battle. Seeing it through "parent eyes", I realize there was no loser, only lessons learned.
