Monday, January 12, 2009

Nibbling...

Years and years ago (I won't give any specifics) ;) when I was newly married to my first husband, we were having dinner at his parents' house. He had a 5 year old sister and she had some strange eating habits. Her parents would put her plate on the table and she would sit down, take a few bites, go off to play or something, come back and take another nibble... and this would go on for an hour or two. "That's just the way she eats" they would say. Crazy I thought. My kids would certainly never do such a thing.

Isn't it funny the things we say our kids will/won't do before we have any? I used to be so full of criticism on other peoples parenting skills. Then I had my own children. And guess what? At least half of those criticisms I'm completely guilty of! :)

Oh yes, you will let your kids smash goldfish into the living room carpet if it will buy you enough time to go to the bathroom undisturbed.

And yes, last week, I let my son do the same nibbling thing I criticized. And he ate so much more than he usually does. It was quite the victory in my ongoing battle to get him to eat. I wondered why I didn't think of such a thing earlier ;)

Lesson: whatever criticisms you have on others' parenting (especially before you have kids), chances are you will end up doing those things yourself...

10 comments:

Simply AnonyMom said...

My son is a horrible eater. He will eat 2 or 3 bites and say he id done. Then 30 or so minutes later he is hungry again. We finally started letting him nibble and now he actually empties his plate!

I hate it, and do not let him waste food from school or restaurants, but if letting him eat dinner over the course of 2 hours means he eats, then I do it.

I agree it is weird and one of the "I will never" things I said but it works so oh well right?!?

April said...

Didn't you know that the best parents are the ones that DON'T have kids.

Lapa37 said...

Ain't that the truth sister...Been there done still doing that.lol

Izzy, Emmy 'N Alexander said...

I.Am.So.With.You!! There have been worse than goldfish smashed into the carpet so that I can use the bathroom! LOL!

Nut Nut said...

I say, whatever works to get you through the day or meal or night, just do it. Mateo, luckily, is a good eater now, so much so, that we on occasion let him eat while sitting on the couch or just away from the table. When he really wants to eat, he'll insist on sitting at the table, in his chair and goes to town. But if I had a nibbler? (and who knows, I might secretly have one and don't know it yet) I'd let him nibble. Eventually he'll be eating me out of house and home and getting big muscles! : )

Cascia Talbert said...

That's a good point. I'm with you on the "do anything to get my child to eat." thing. Although, my nearly 3 year old daughter just recently has started to sit still at the dinner table and actually eat about 80 percent of her meal. I'm not used to that one yet, but thankful that she finally has an appetite again.

Kaci said...

Oh shush I never do such things!! LOL! Okay I just lied there!

Anonymous said...

What works, works! That's always the bottom line with kids.

Suzie said...

Mine does the same thing. It makes me nuts

Becky W. said...

My "I will never do that when I have kids" thing was letting them get into bed with me. My almost 2-year-old ends up in bed with us almost every night. Ugh! Never say never, I guess.

 
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