Here, at long last, is another in our series of Conversations with D-, my 4-year-old son. This one took place this morning right after I sat down to think of a blog post:
D- (behind me, from across the room): Can I have this cracker over here?
Me: Oh, whoops! No, I found that under the radiator last night, and I meant to throw it away. It's good that you found it before M- did, cause she'd eat it!
D-: Can I eat it?
Me: No... it was under the radiator-- it's not good to eat anymore.
D-: Why not?
And you know, based on his standards, I guess I don't have a convincing answer to that, but I made him throw it away anyway, because I'm just an evil dictator.
22 May 2008
A conversation with D-: Aged just right
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10 comments:
LOL! Next time, let him eat it!
But then again, he may like it and start eating anything he finds on the floor.
Of course, kids eat their boogers, so who's to say that crackers under the radiator are any worse?
Sometimes I find myself saying no to something so automatically because it's just ingrained in me somehow that it's 'not okay,' without giving any thought to it. I can't tell you how many times my kids have asked me why, and I've had no good response. And sometimes if I feel like TRYING to be a good parent, I'll even throw caution to the wind and tell them to go ahead and do whatever it is I said no to in the first place.
Whew...that was long winded. Sorry. Can you tell I don't get to talk to any adults in person during the day?
What do you think is worse - eating the cracker from under the radiator or drinking butt water from the bath? (That is what I call it in an attempt to gross my kids out and deter them from drinking bath water, but nothing works.)
They aren't going to listen to you anyway, so just watch him eat it and then call poison control if he starts to turn red or swell up.
My 4 YO never got the whole food-touches-ground-equals-dirty thing until she saw an episode of YO GABBA GABBA where the little green monster dropped his cookie and all of a sudden animated "germs" were all over it singing not to eat them. Now EVERYTHING has germs. Thanks, YO GABBA GABBA.
You can't reason with kids...I quit trying years ago. I use the standard, but always handy, "BECAUSE I SAID SO, THAT'S WHY!".
At least he asked if coold eat it FIRST...you have him trained far better then my son ever was (my oldest daughter used to feed him mud pies and dog food).
:) Terri
At least he was polite about it, evil dictator!
Now, the real question is: would you have eaten the cracker when you were a kid or single? If the answer is no then he gets that from his mama. If the answer is yes then, well...
I love Four. No limits. No worries. No taste!
Mama Dawg: Oh, he already loves food from the floor-- see this post for details on that. And I agree, a cracker that spent one day sitting under the radiator (thanks to M-) is probably among the highest-quality things I've saved the kids from eating.
Christy: Oh I know the feeling-- talking only to kids too long is hazardous to one's sanity. And those automatic "no"s are another tool to protect yourself. That way, you don't have to listen to or think about too many inane things too much.
Bilary: Drinking bath water is certainly inadvisable, but I think that's a lost cause for sure. And you sound like we would get along great-- Poison Control is what I like to call the backup parent in our house. I defer a lot of decisions to them.
SherE1: That sounds a bit too effective, but maybe the makers of that show can apply that method to other things we can't get our kids to understand. Meanwhile, you may have an intervention on the Oprah show in your future-- see Momo Fali's post from today.
TerriRainer: He's generally pretty reliable with keeping things above board, but all signs point to that honeymoon ending very soon. For the time being, though, anything that offers him a chance to ask yet another question is okay with him. As for you, at least dog food is nutritious, right?
MamaNeena: Hmmm... I wouldn't have, but only because I don't trust the radiator area, since it's uncleanable (unless I felt like unleashing my demons and really Cleaning the place). If it was laying on the open floor in my own house, I would have eaten it. Still would. Though actually I might just offer it to the kids and go get myself a fresh one. So sue me!
Half-Past Kissin' Time: Indeed, even on days I want to strangle the kid, I can still recognize how nice this age is-- he functions as a surprisingly capable slave, servant, or assistant, as the situation dictates, while still being highly portable and reasonably cute.
Isn't the radiator just a large toaster anyway?
Some peanut butter would have cleaned it right up.
I never thought about it that way before, but I think the radiator is disqualified as a cooking device when it's off for the season.
Peanut butter is indeed a miracle food, so maybe I was all wrong about this-- I'll have to start keeping an emergency jar in the toy chest.
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