When I was growing up I did not have unlimited access to food. If I was hungry I had to ask for a snack but 50% of the time the answer was, “Good! Then you’ll be hungry for dinner!”
Part of the reason for this was because there are six kids in my family. Can you imagine what your food pantry would look like at the end of each day if all six of your kids had unlimited access to the Oreos? Not to mention I’m fairly certain we were poor. Which is why I was always asking my cousin to steal food from her house and/or force her to beg our neighbors for candy. Much of my early childhood days were spent attempting to secure sweet treats for myself without alerting my mother in any way whatsoever. Fly under the radar with cookies, that’s all I asked for in life.
I remember in college, babysitting my coach’s kids one evening, and she told me what to make them for dinner and said, “of course if they’re hungry before that they can grab some grapes from the refrigerator.” And sure enough there was a big bowl of washed grapes on a shelf they could reach in the refrigerator!
UNLIMITED GRAPES!
It was then that I decided food was not going to be a big deal in my house with my future kids. They will always have unlimited grapes. If they say they’re hungry, they can eat. Open kitchen, 24 hours a day and I don’t care if it ruins their appetite for dinner.
And they do eat. They eat the unlimited grapes and the sliced apples. They eat the cheese sticks and crackers. And they eat all the cookies.
Not to mention I’m fairly certain we’re poor.
The other day I asked my 9 yr old if she was eating candy for breakfast before school…she gave me a thumbs up and walked away.
Maybe my Mom’s way was better after all.