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Life is sometimes sort of okay because...

Started by House of Usher, 23 March, 2009, 05:17:47 PM

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Hawkmumbler

Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 13 September, 2013, 07:06:09 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 12 September, 2013, 10:56:41 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 September, 2013, 10:48:56 PM
...they eat it or they go hungry...

Quite right, this is how I was raised, and this was in the time before microwaves were a common feature of kitchens. It was better to eat it while it was hot than to kick up a fuss and then have to eat it when it went cold.

Damn straight!  Occasionally I ram the point home by saying if they don't eat it they can have it cold for breakfast. The look on their faces when I present them with it at the breakfast table is priceless.

You gotta show the little blighters who's boss - the moment you start negotiating you've lost!
Could someone tell this to my parents please? My mother spoilers the siblings rotten the soft hearted fool she is. ::)

JamesC

Quote from: Hawkmonger on 13 September, 2013, 08:06:43 AM
Quote from: shaolin_monkey on 13 September, 2013, 07:06:09 AM
Quote from: Mister Pops on 12 September, 2013, 10:56:41 PM
Quote from: TordelBack on 12 September, 2013, 10:48:56 PM
...they eat it or they go hungry...

Quite right, this is how I was raised, and this was in the time before microwaves were a common feature of kitchens. It was better to eat it while it was hot than to kick up a fuss and then have to eat it when it went cold.

Damn straight!  Occasionally I ram the point home by saying if they don't eat it they can have it cold for breakfast. The look on their faces when I present them with it at the breakfast table is priceless.

You gotta show the little blighters who's boss - the moment you start negotiating you've lost!
Could someone tell this to my parents please? My mother spoilers the siblings rotten the soft hearted fool she is. ::)

You should get them to watch this great old James Mason film where his daughter refuses to eat her fish and so gets it served up at every subsequent meal time, even when it goes all skanky and rotten looking:

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/2011/12/29/spring-and-port-wine-1970-2/

TordelBack

Y-e-e-e-s-s-s, I didn't quite mean to imply that I practised force-feeding of minors, merely that the wee buggers would never eat anything other than mcnuggets, horse burgers and frubes if I gave in to them: I'm not interested in controlling them per se, just giving them the opportunity to eat something healthy-ish that the wife and I can both afford and stomach ourselves.  I should add that we're coming from a dark workaholic place where we usually ate separate from the kids (and often each other) after they'd gone to bed, and they picked at some packaged frozen shite in front of the telly, so the change I've being trying to effect for the last couple of years isn't really one to their behaviour as much as it is to ours.

Anyway, 'conservative' doesn't begin to describe small children's default tastes*, especially if loudly exercising their 'preference' gets them the undivided attention of the whole table, and despite the chirpy insistence of TV chefs the only way I can get them to eat something new is to present it as Hobson's choice.  If they really don't like something once they've actually tasted it I revise it, try it again, revise it again, until I either win or give up.  Which is about 50/50.

I should add that there's always a rack of fruit to which they are directed in the event of imminent and dramatic starvation, and that works too.


*Unless of course it's in a neighbour's house, when they'll wolf down whatever paprika- or habanero-based fare is on offer, whether it's made of ostrich legs, polar bear tripe or spiders' arses.

Dandontdare


Tiplodocus

When Tiny Tips was Tiny (about 4) and his diet was pretty much limited to one dish (penne pasta with tomato and basil sauce. And it had to be fresh penne) we picked up a trick from Supernanny that helped broaden his pallette.

Basically, you sit down together and draw out the meal on a paper plate, talking through the ingredients and the colours and the tastes well in advance of the actual meal. We broke the plate up into quarters so he could clearly see what was what.  Then when it arrives, he actually felt he had participated in the cooking (though he hadn't - all he could make was scrambled eggs - under supervision) and he got gold stars etc. for each of the quarters of the plate he finished.

And it worked really well.

Note: There were no other rewards - just Gold Stars on a chart. I still don't understand how that works.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Hawkmumbler

A child can be easily satisfied if the situation is explained to him. And I always love reading this thread and realising what great parents you guys all are. I'd be a hopeless father is the time ever comes!

Ancient Otter

My life looks like it is entering a tubulent period and while fretting, I randomly come across a quote from Marcus Aurelius Antoninus which makes me worry slightly less...

The Doctor Alt 8

Boy are you guys gonna be in a whole world of trouble when your children are older.

Revenge will literally be a dish served cold  again & again & again....

Remember that they will be in charge of you when you grow too old...


M.I.K.

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 13 September, 2013, 12:30:59 PM
Note: There were no other rewards - just Gold Stars on a chart. I still don't understand how that works.

The same way as Xbox achievements.

Hawkmumbler

Jogged 10 miles in just over an hour. Not bad, not bad at all. For me.

TordelBack

Quote from: Hawkmonger on 14 September, 2013, 09:05:56 AM
Jogged 10 miles in just over an hour. Not bad, not bad at all. For me.

Consistent 6-minute miles, that's excellent.  Back when I was a runner I'd settle for anything under 9 over that distance!

I on the other hand did the exact opposite, and had an excellent leisurely breakfast - yummy homegrown grilled tomatoes on homemade bread making up for the heaps of processed pig.   Om-nom-nom-nom.  Dog must have eaten my running shoes, can't be helped.

Frank

Quote from: The Doctor Alt 8 on 14 September, 2013, 12:02:22 AM
Boy are you guys gonna be in a whole world of trouble when your children are older. Revenge will literally be a dish served cold  again & again & again ... Remember that they will be in charge of you when you grow too old...

By the time my Gran finally went, all she would eat was jelly and ice cream. I'm sure I don't need to go into the details of her toilet habits to reinforce the point that extreme old age involves a regression to childhood. I don't know how my Mum managed that, and I doubt I'll be able to do the same when the time comes.


TordelBack

Quote from: sauchie on 14 September, 2013, 09:33:05 AMI don't know how my Mum managed that, and I doubt I'll be able to do the same when the time comes.

Yes, I think about this a lot.  My gran was severely disabled for most of my life, and lived with us for several years towards the end, so with both my folks working I as a young teenager of necessity had to help out with toilet issues, to our mutual mortification. I was only at the tip of the iceberg (so to speak), but what my Mum and Dad dealt day-in day-out with fills me with respect and fear for what is likely to be my job (my siblings either having emigrated or being... flighty).  Have spent much of the past 7 years dealing with poop from the other end of the age spectrum, at least I now grasp the symmetry of obligation, but I can't say my projected reactions paint me as anything other than a coward.

Richmond Clements

I'm lucky on two counts here: my sister manages a care home and my son has already informed me not to worry, as I will "die alone in Scotland."

Frank

Quote from: Richmond Clements on 14 September, 2013, 10:08:35 AM
I will "die alone in Scotland."

That must be the bleakest sentence ever composed in the history of the English language. It really needs to be accompanied by the sound of a cold wind echoing around bare stone walls for the full effect.