Food, glorious food
Homesick Home, saying she missed Tokyo, recently posted about an article in the NY Times, “Memo to Nannies: No Juice Boxes.“ Apparently, in the world of being able to afford nannies, food has become a hot-button issue. The article cites mothers who require the nanny to cook from-scratch meals, fill out eating logs (?!), use only organic products, etc. Horror of horrors! one mother found that the nanny was sneaking candies to the children on their trips to the store.
I am afraid I would stink as a nanny.
I confess: I, personally, am quite willing to allow the dotter to have a treat now and then.
I hear the gasps from the assembled audience. “Boo!” “Hiss!” “BAD mommy!”
I have fed my child hotdogs. Breakfast is often solved by breaking open a package of ramen noodles. Chocolate-chip cookies are allowed in small doses, especially when home-made. I am even striving to nurture a liking for dark chocolate candies…when I get a box of truffles from Mr. OmegaMom, I have been known to share them with the Dotter. We even–shoot us now!–get fast food and pizza on a semi-regular basis.
OmegaDad would fail miserably as a nanny, and be chased by an angry mob of yuppie moms throwing stones at him, if he weren’t just tarred, feathered, and placed in the village square as an object lesson to others.
I will confess it would be much easier for me to deal with a nanny (hired help) who didn’t follow my nutrition desires than it is to deal with OmegaDad.
Where I am not uptight about junk food, OmegaDad is in love with it. He never met a junk food he didn’t like. So, rather than laying down the law with the nanny, I have to constantly badger and “remind” OmegaDad that Bug Juice and Pringles purchased at the convenience store on the way home from school is a Bad Idea.
But the obsessiveness portrayed in the article is beyond me. What you make forbidden, in my experience, becomes oh-so-desirable. Raise a child on only organic whole-wheat, and when that child becomes a college student, watch out! It will be Hostess Ho-Hos for dinner every night!
In general, our approach is to provide fruits and veggies on a regular basis, curtail the eating of junk an hour to an hour-and-a-half prior to dinner time, and have a balanced dinner every night. This leads to whining, but, hey, that’s life, kiddo.
Sticker score card: No star yesterday. Not bloody likely. A star this morning. Woohoo!
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