Feeding Frustration

When I was a kid, lunch was a sandwich, some fruit, maybe chips or pretzels or goldfish crackers, milk, and sometimes two cookies for dessert. On weekends, lunch might be leftovers, or soup, or grilled cheese sandwiches. If you'd asked me, I would have said I liked bologna and mayonnaise on white bread, or roast beef and mayonnaise on rye or pumpernickel. I ate whatever my Mom offered. Turkey or ham, or plain cheese - I didn't learn to like cheese on my sandwiches until much later. I liked pickles, too.

SpaghettiO's were a rarity. I never had Kraft Mac until high school.

We were offered snacks once or twice a day. Watermelon was a favorite, as were popsicles if it was hot. Juice was allowed moderation, milk was the beverage of the decade.

I went to public school, and for $0.65 a day (in 1st grade, by 8th it was up over $1.75) I ate in the cafeteria, unless the scheduled offering was truly repulsive, in which case my Mom would pack a lunch. See above for a description.

Dinner was what my Mom was serving. Burgers and steaks and chicken on the grill in the summer. Soups, stews, casseroles in the winter. Roast chicken, vegetables, rice or potatoes on the side. Spaghetti with homemade sauce she made by the vat. I rarely had jarred until after college. Salads. Cheerios and Raisin Bran with milk. Oatmeal. Ice cream after dinner if you ate your vegetables.

And, for the record, Mom worked outside the home part time, took care of us, and kept the house on top of these culinary marvels. I don't have to do half of that at work. I can certainly prepare meals for them. What I can't get their parents to do is change their buying habits.

I cannot grasp the pickiness, even after all these years, exhibited by the Boss kids. They have a rotating menu of about 8 dishes, and unless I do their grocery shopping, we're limited by the same things that end up in the fridge every week - a lot of prepackaged nonsense. They don't like hamburger. They don't like anything but plain chicken breasts, occasionally with garlic and olive oil or some pizza sauce and cheese. Fish? No. They don't like homemade macaroni and cheese, or spaghetti sauce, jarred or otherwise. They don't like cooked vegetables, even when they're crisp steamed. It makes me want to hang up my pans and make them Annies Shells and Cheddar every night and have done with it.

I can live with it, since they're not my kids. What's hard is teaching my own little one to think outside the chicken nuggets package when I can't get the others to eat anything fresh and simple. It's an uphill battle. I do keep trying. But sometimes I just need to whine.

Done now.