Parenting is one long, wonderful humility check. Before I had kids, I had certain ideas about how I would feed them and ensure that they grew up to live on carrots and flax seed (I know, I know, I keep revisiting this topic of expectations, but lo did I ever have plans). I figured that we would just never give our child sugar or refined grains, and that she would never know the difference. Fast food would never cross her unblemished little lips and grease would never stain her angelic little hands. I would make all baby food and snacks from scratch, so that she never caught a whiff of marketing. Harumph. Someone slap my former self please.
On the planet reality, one of Tavy's first foods were french fries (Grandma's doings). She had an early love affair with pickles (Daddy's doing), and we have given enough money to Earth's Best Organic Baby Food to ensure that they will not need a bailout. She eats what we eat which is the 80% healthy and 20% good-lord-what-did-I-do plan. She eats jars of food including chicken and stars which is dangerously close to spaghetti-o's. She eats crackers and baby Mum-Mum's (which have the nutritional value of packing peanuts). She gets cookies (the lowest sugar things that Daddy buys for himself like shortbread, but still, cookies) with alarming regularity. She would happily dine daily on those insipid little puff things and cheesy-poofs. Next stop, South Park.
Most alarming, I find that I WANT to give her these things. I like sharing vanilla ice cream with her (even after Freak showed me you tube video about how you can use sugar to imprint kids with positive emotions for the person providing the sugar). I like buying snacks just for her. I like how she demands bananas like they are about to be outlawed. I like it when she asks for bites of whatever unhealthy goodness we are eating. I like how she forces me to examine what I am putting in my mouth and body, and how she makes me choose between a hypocrite and treating her as a dietary equal. She forces me to be a healthier, more conscious eater, but she also forces me to continually re-examine my dietary paradigm.
I know that a lot of this has to do with growing up poor (is financially challenged more PC?), and while hunger wasn't an issue, we didn't get a lot of treats and just-for-kids foods. Perhaps my own inner child needs more dietary coddling. Some of this has to do with convenience. When you have a hobbit who needs 6-10 min-meals a day, it's hard to whip out the Cuisinart and turn out snacks every time. But, also some of this has to do with the sheer pleasure of feeding such a grateful little creature.
Last night, I breached another I-will-never taboo from my list: Tavy ordered off the kids' menu for the first time. And I took surprising joy in the event. Somehow I have lived in the Rain & Granola Belt for five years now (!!! Dear Lord, how did this happen?), and never experience Burgerville--the closest thing to Organic Fast Food. The prices are similar to Red Robin, but the ambiance is very much Golden Arches, and the ingredients are local, mainly organic, and the serving ware is environmentally friendly (Corn Cups!). Uncle Nanny and Uncle Monkey raved about their fries, and since last weekend, Tavy managed to eat my ENTIRE order of fries, it seemed fitting to finally order her own meal.
She was distinctly underwhelmed as mooching our food is way more fun than having her own, but she was also distracted by much fawning attention. Stacey (who is sick and needs sympathy) has a good post up about comfort food today. I wonder what Tavy's comfort foods will be and how much I am shaping that right now. Shortbread? Animal Crackers? Bananas? Fries? Noodles?
What foods of your childhood do you still eat? What foods can you see your children (real or hypothetical) eating as adults? Have you deviated from what you planned to fee them? Oh, and is the concept of "healthy fast food" an oxymoron?
(And, as a side note, I really recommend Burgerville as a guilty pleasure treat).
