We gave up eating dinner with the kids most nights. Rather than being meal companions to them, we are servants. They're not always rude, and they do often say "please" and "thank you." It's just that there is always something to refill, pick-up or help with so that we never get to sit for a minute. Holden used to ask why we don't eat with him. After I've fetched a cup of milk or refilled his yogurt for the 4th time, I say, "This is why." He gets it.
What follows is a typical weeknight dinner in our home - all 41 minutes of it - condensed down to two minutes and 44 seconds. It has all the basic elements of a Riley and Holden dinner: Riley has a melt down, Holden drops his bowl of applesauce and has to get up to clean it off the wall and Holden eats and eats and eats. Riley finishes and returns to kiss Holden good night ... and Holden keeps eating. That's pretty normal, with us just bringing him more and more food: "Chex Mix please!" "Rice cake please!" and on and on. A couple times, he even puts his head down, exhausted, but determined to continue.
1 comment:
I was actually riveted watching that!
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