My kids have a strict rule. They only touch food that is beige. Bread, chicken nuggets, rice, fries--that's about it. Sometimes, depending on their moods they'll go for something orange. But any other color is a struggle.We've tried everything. Negotiations, bribes, threats, consequences, ultimatums--you name it. We have one hard, fast requirement--one bite of each offending item on your plate. Of course, with age E.R. is getting much better. But where it's now easier with him, it's 10X harder with A.M. Let's just say she's stubborn.
Yesterday something new came to me as my daughter was gearing up for the nightly battle of wills. I pulled out the dimes we use to pay our kids for extra jobs. Ten cents for one BIG bite was the going rate. Both of my children, without complaint, ate bite, after bite, after bite. No whining. No gnashing of teeth. No tears. No time outs. It was heavenly--except for that gnawing feeling of guilt that I had stepped over an invisible, ethical line.
I'm not saying this was great parenting. At this point, I'm going to settle with just being barely average.
9 comments:
That is classic!! I love it! Hey it worked. After a couple of weeks, you can tell them that you know they like it and can eat it or else you will start taking their dimes away. See how my mind works. Bribe and threaten, bribe and threaten. That's the pretty much the summary of my parenting phillosophy.
Love it!! So funny.
Marian -
What a riot! I say - go girl! I like Stacy's line of thinking for down the road as well.
Oh man, I can totally picture you with a stack of dimes, and your kids digging in. Kind of like Ralphie in the Christmas Story.
You - "I'll give you a dime if you show me how a piggy eats."
Them - "Grum grum shlop shlop."
$1.10... that's it? Those must have been some big bites.
Oh... will you e-mail me your address. I want to send you a Christmas card. mandie612@yahoo.com
Hey- whatever works! That's a good idea!
Suzy
That's great! Good parenting is highly overrated...sometimes it is just a matter of survival. It's nice to see my kids aren't the only stinkers at the dinner table.
What a fun blog! It will be fun to see what your family is up to. Where are you now?
They way we look at it at our house is, when you're a grown up, you get paid to do things, so what's the problem paying a kid to do things? I think it's great! Good for you!
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