Wednesday, November 16, 2011

eat your veggies or else

The other morning I was packing the kids lunches and
I noticed a common denominator among the three lunch boxes.
The fruit which I had so lovingly included in yesterday's lunches
to promote health and vigor in the children had been sadly neglected.
Everything else was eaten.
The food source with actual vitamins? Not so much.
So I turned to Jack and said, "Jack, I really want you to eat your fruit."
He said, "Okay."  He seemed non-committal.
"You know it is good for you and you need it."
"Okay."  He wasn't looking me directly in the eye.
I am realizing as I say this, I really can't make him eat his fruit at
school, even with the strength of my will and my furrowed brow
stressing the importance of the fruit.
He could just throw his fruit in the trash and call it a day.
So I threw out some good old Christian fear of the Lord to encourage
his good choice of eating vs. tossing the fruit.
"Jesus knows." (Which may not be a theologically appropriate argument...
Of course, Jesus knows everything
but does Jesus actually care if our children eat their fruit?
And how does he feel about motherly guilt trips?)
Jack laughed and said, "I know."
(He apparently sees through my shoddy nutrional theology.)
At which point, Addison piped up,
"And Santa does, too!  He's been watching you!"
Clearly, Jack had better eat his fruit... his soul and Christmas presents
hang in the balance.
Let's hope he makes the right choice.

3 comments:

Belle said...

I hope he chooses to eat the fruit. You do sound desperate bringing Jesus into the equation. LOL

susanna said...

Belle! You hit the nail on the head! Desperate is my middle name! :)

Prudence said...

Hi! I was looking for a way to email you but didn't see it (maybe I just can't navigate your blog well enough). I loved loved LOVED All I Need Is Jesus And a Good Pair of Jeans. It was one of several things (plus a friend/ mentor, new church, and class) that God used to reach out to me during an unprecedented dark, lonely time in my life. I got the next one too...but now my sister has them! :) Anyway, I was wondering if you know of any similar books that are more geared toward men? Sorry; I know that that is such a broad question. But I am doing this for someone (halfway requested).
And I hope the fruit got eaten. :)