Will woke up and wanted lunch. In his three years, he hasn’t figured out the difference between breakfast, lunch, supper and dinner. He just knows he is hungry and so lunch it is. For breakfast Will gets cereal, pancakes or a granola bar. Occasionally he wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
One particular morning, Will wanted cereal—a generic equivalent of honey nut cheerios to be exact. So I got out a bowl and poured him some cereal. While he was getting out a spoon, I got out the milk and met him at the table. I poured the milk, and the whining began. He wanted more milk. Not just more, but enough milk to make the cereal reach the top of the bowl. I poured what I felt was an appropriate amount and put the milk away. Will picked up his spoon to eat.
By the time I got to the living room to sit and wait for him to get done eating, the whining had done a 180-degree turn. All of a sudden there was too much milk, too much cereal and he told me over and over it was too much and he wouldn’t eat it.
But an amazing thing was happening, between every complaint, he took a bite. Then he took another, then another and then another. The whining was getting louder each minute but the contents of the bowl were getting lower and lower. There were a few pauses when he had to go get a towel to clean up the milk he spilled and to crawl on the ground for the spoon he dropped.
Bite by bite, complaint by complaint, the kid ate the whole bowlful then slurped all the milk. And when he was done, he stopped the whining and complaining, put his bowl and spoon in the sink and went on his merry way.
What did I do? Well, I hugged him, kissed him, wiped up his mess and realized it was nothing more than ‘dinner and a show.’
I wonder what will happen at lunch?
One particular morning, Will wanted cereal—a generic equivalent of honey nut cheerios to be exact. So I got out a bowl and poured him some cereal. While he was getting out a spoon, I got out the milk and met him at the table. I poured the milk, and the whining began. He wanted more milk. Not just more, but enough milk to make the cereal reach the top of the bowl. I poured what I felt was an appropriate amount and put the milk away. Will picked up his spoon to eat.
By the time I got to the living room to sit and wait for him to get done eating, the whining had done a 180-degree turn. All of a sudden there was too much milk, too much cereal and he told me over and over it was too much and he wouldn’t eat it.
But an amazing thing was happening, between every complaint, he took a bite. Then he took another, then another and then another. The whining was getting louder each minute but the contents of the bowl were getting lower and lower. There were a few pauses when he had to go get a towel to clean up the milk he spilled and to crawl on the ground for the spoon he dropped.
Bite by bite, complaint by complaint, the kid ate the whole bowlful then slurped all the milk. And when he was done, he stopped the whining and complaining, put his bowl and spoon in the sink and went on his merry way.
What did I do? Well, I hugged him, kissed him, wiped up his mess and realized it was nothing more than ‘dinner and a show.’
I wonder what will happen at lunch?
Will, about a year old, learning to love lunch!