It's Good to Be Looooooooooved
It's a slippery slope, and we have found our way all the way to the bottom of the mountain. Where once there was a peaceful dinner time filled with a young child eating actual food, now there is chaos.
It started with snacks in the car on the way home from school. The young child swears that daycare doesn't feed her. While the empty food bowls in her lunch bag tell a very different story, she's always all, "I'm sooooo hungry. My belly hurts. Waaaaah!" I highly doubt anyone is stealing her nearly daily dose of lima beans and cherry tomatoes, but whatever. I tend to let her have some baby carrots or crackers or something as we drive home. (Yes, I'm a sucker. And?)
Then Alexis the Hungry Hungry Hippo convinced her father that she neeeeeeds a snack before bedtime. She's soooo hungry and she will positively pass out if she doesn't get a package or ten of fruit snacks. He worries that she will broadcast a louder and more persistent hunger cry in the middle of the night if she doesn't get her way, so he obliges her before bed needs. (Yes, he's a sucker, too. And?)
Now that she has managed to squeeze two snacks in between the hours of 6pm and 9pm, Alexis has no need for dinner. If you ask her, it has worked out perfectly. We all sit at the kitchen table together. As Mr. Husband and I try to eat, Alexis takes advantage of a captive audience and does stuff like this:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Reader Comments (18)
Sharon, Lois and Bram! Seriously a childhood memory, yet who taught her that song? Ah early Canadian Kids TV shows on Nickelodeon when the best.
Best line: "Now push the button," DIVA haha
@Mark--She learned the song at school. I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't even say it. At all. ~~Michelle~~
HAHAHA. That. Is. Great. I learned to ride my bike with no hands while singing that song! She is adorable!
Don't look directly at her! She's hexing you with misdirection! She knows if she's cute enough you'll forget all about that having to eat dinner stuff....
That song is still around?! Awesome!
Jonathan has done this with snacks, but not from me...from his sitters and therefore he will not eat dinner. Argh. I'll have to teach him that song!
P.S. Love the new look....very professional. Meant to say that before...
She's awesome.
We understand the slippery slope here. We usually resist, but every now and then give in to the snacking craze, allowing it to ruin meals. Kids are (sorta) crafty! We (parents in general) usually know what they are up to, but they often get their way, despite this, since we want to maintain sanity...
And your kid is awesome! I love her singing that song!
Dylan sings that song all the time! He just made me play it a few times. I've noticed he sings(loudly) more at the dinner table (when my husband and I are trying to talk) than any other time during the day.
That was the cutest thing ever. But I'm having a hard time believing that that singing, arm-waving kid is the very one that I see hiding behind you when I'm near.
We have the same debate here all the time. I don't understand how my kids "NEEEED" a breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, after school snack and a dinner. Oh yeah, and they out eat me at breakfast and dinner. Ugh.
Wow - that song (not to mention the corresponding hand motions) brings back so many childhood memories for me! I LOVE that kids are still rockin' it. I also love that google told me it's from "The Elephant Show" so I wouldn't waste my entire day racking my brain trying to remember the name of it.
We have the rampant snacking. However it doesn't seem to have affected his appetite for meals.
So, consequently, we have a little voice yelling down the hall from his room at 11pm that he needs some chicken nuggets, blackberries, greenbeans, a cupcake and a strawberry shake RIGHT NOW!!!!
Maybe you just need to break up her dinner into two snacks so she still gets all she needs?
btw...that song is adorable.
Oh, gosh, that WAS a fun song! And her giggle made me giggle.
And, no, I don't want to talk about supper time. You know that's our huge issue over here with Mr. Texture Issues. I don't know why I bother trying new recipes. I'm just going to start serving spaghetti every night.
Oh PLEEEEEEASE can I have her? Please please pleeeeeeeeease?!!!!
Adorable singing!!
Same thing here. Seriously- last night, we had to bribe her to eat TWO BITES of her grilled cheese (which is like HER FAVORITE) by threatening to ban dress-up for the night. You should have SEEN how quickly those bites were scarfed down. It was hilarious. (and ANNOYING.)
Aw! My Grandma taught me that song when I was about Alexis' age. I can't wait to teach it to my kids :D
So very cute!
Two snacks and no dinner may very well be worth it if it produces that amount of entertainment every night! (Though we have been in the same boat once or twice, and had to go the nasty route of cutting out snacks all together. Guess who was the meanest Mom on the planet that week?!)
Flora eats ALL THE TIME, dude. Between 5 and 8:30 p.m., she has car snacks, dinner (two helpings sometimes), an after-dinner 'treat', and a night-time treat/snack. And that's after breakfast, lunch, and two snacks at daycare. She's a monster. And she's got the height to prove it.
Kate is off and on with the constant noshing. She will often snack a lot and pick at dinner. I don't fuss about it.
And, yes, my kids come up with some entertaining stuff while I'm eating. That's for sure. At least she sits at the table, right?