With Kids, You Never Know
When I was single, I would kind of live on the edge. I say “kind of” because it was never super radical. But I did do things like up and quit my job in Orange County and move to San Francisco without a permanent job offer, just a free-lance gig. Also, when the go-go days of dot.com went south and I was laid off, I up and went to Africa for a month, fulfilling a life-long dream. When I couldn’t find a job in the horrific job market of 2000, I decided I would either go to Peru and do volunteer work or move in with Barton, rather than continue to pay the exorbitant rent that was sucking up all my savings. (You all know how that turned out.) In my mind (aka Fantasy Land), things just always seem to work out so why not just go for it?
Now that I’m a wife and mother to three young kids, living on the edge does not make as much sense. Recently, I had the idea that going on my own for a week to either Peru or Thailand was a good idea, but my husband pointed out that these can be dangerous places and it’s not just myself I answer to anymore. I’m still calculating where I’m going to go on my big adventure this year, but most likely, it’s going to be NYC for BlogHer, a much saner alternative to a third-world country (maybe).
So now my envelope pushing has become a lot tamer (maybe you could call it “envelope nudging”) and mostly involves exposing my children to life beyond the obvious (Barney, Elmo and chicken nuggets). The main thing that I have learned is that you should never underestimate your children. For instance, when Nicole was two, I would take her out to a local sushi restaurant every week and she would eat eda-mame, California rolls, chicken teriyaki and other non-sushi sushi. One day, I had ordered some Ikura (salmon roe … they’re the big red eggs that look like bait). She reached over and grabbed the roll and before I could stop her, she just stuffed a bunch of the roe in her mouth. From that day on, she has been completely addicted and can’t get enough of what she calls “sushi bubbles.” Now she eats just about any kind of raw fish and is my constant sushi buddy. Note: One trick to getting your kid to eat sushi is to call it by its Japanese name. It sounds so much more exotic and thus yummier.
I had another “aha moment” recently with wasabi peas. I had taken a bag in the car with me because I was certain that the kids wouldn’t like them and I needed “my own” snack that the kiddos would not devour. Wrong. All three of them started crunching on the spicy peas and loved them. I expected pursed up faces and gagging, but just got smiles of delight. Who knew?
On the non-exotic front, all three little Georges eat a variety of vegetables. It’s true that you have to just keep exposing them, even if they shun anything green at first. They’ve always been good with carrots and tomatoes, but asparagus took a bit longer for them to acquire the taste. I just kept serving it and by the eighth round, they were hooked. The same thing goes for spinach. We probably have spinach about five times a week and they all eat it. I don’t puree it a la sneaky chef. I don’t want to have to live my whole life hiding what’s healthy in the food. Now, Dane actually asks for “salad eggs,” which means eggs with spinach. Yea, I’m doing something right!
Like food, people tend to stick with the tried and true for kids movies. I’ve ventured beyond this and was tickled when all three kids were hooked on “Mamma Mia.” This week, I rented one of my all-time favorite movies, “The Sound of Music.” My friends were all skeptical that three year old boys and a five year old girl would like this movie. The experiment was 1/3 successful. Nicole watched it until the end, over three hours of nuns, Austria and lederhosen and it still managed to captivate her.
What I’m saying is kids can be pretty-opened minded even though they often act like crotchety old people. So even though I may not being going to Thailand, I can take the kids to our local Thai place and live vicariously through their fresh experiences. Give it a try with your kids because you just never know.
An original Deep South Moms post.
photo: Nicole kicks back and enjoys "The Sound of Music"
When she's not feeding her kids sushi and blocks of bleu cheese, Lisa blogs at: The Curious Georges.
So now my envelope pushing has become a lot tamer (maybe you could call it “envelope nudging”) and mostly involves exposing my children to life beyond the obvious (Barney, Elmo and chicken nuggets). The main thing that I have learned is that you should never underestimate your children. For instance, when Nicole was two, I would take her out to a local sushi restaurant every week and she would eat eda-mame, California rolls, chicken teriyaki and other non-sushi sushi. One day, I had ordered some Ikura (salmon roe … they’re the big red eggs that look like bait). She reached over and grabbed the roll and before I could stop her, she just stuffed a bunch of the roe in her mouth. From that day on, she has been completely addicted and can’t get enough of what she calls “sushi bubbles.” Now she eats just about any kind of raw fish and is my constant sushi buddy. Note: One trick to getting your kid to eat sushi is to call it by its Japanese name. It sounds so much more exotic and thus yummier.
I had another “aha moment” recently with wasabi peas. I had taken a bag in the car with me because I was certain that the kids wouldn’t like them and I needed “my own” snack that the kiddos would not devour. Wrong. All three of them started crunching on the spicy peas and loved them. I expected pursed up faces and gagging, but just got smiles of delight. Who knew?
On the non-exotic front, all three little Georges eat a variety of vegetables. It’s true that you have to just keep exposing them, even if they shun anything green at first. They’ve always been good with carrots and tomatoes, but asparagus took a bit longer for them to acquire the taste. I just kept serving it and by the eighth round, they were hooked. The same thing goes for spinach. We probably have spinach about five times a week and they all eat it. I don’t puree it a la sneaky chef. I don’t want to have to live my whole life hiding what’s healthy in the food. Now, Dane actually asks for “salad eggs,” which means eggs with spinach. Yea, I’m doing something right!
Like food, people tend to stick with the tried and true for kids movies. I’ve ventured beyond this and was tickled when all three kids were hooked on “Mamma Mia.” This week, I rented one of my all-time favorite movies, “The Sound of Music.” My friends were all skeptical that three year old boys and a five year old girl would like this movie. The experiment was 1/3 successful. Nicole watched it until the end, over three hours of nuns, Austria and lederhosen and it still managed to captivate her.
What I’m saying is kids can be pretty-opened minded even though they often act like crotchety old people. So even though I may not being going to Thailand, I can take the kids to our local Thai place and live vicariously through their fresh experiences. Give it a try with your kids because you just never know.
An original Deep South Moms post.
photo: Nicole kicks back and enjoys "The Sound of Music"
When she's not feeding her kids sushi and blocks of bleu cheese, Lisa blogs at: The Curious Georges.
