January 14, 2001
Peanut butter and faith
___ "Some couples argue over money or time issues. We have neither money nor time to argue about, so instead, we argue over our children's eating habits.
___Both our boys are picky eaters, but one of them goes beyond picky to the point of being peculiar. And he's proud of it.
___Garrett seems to be a natural-born vegetarian. He's not old enough to have developed a philosophical objection to meat; he simply can't stand the taste of meat, be it chicken, beef, fish or pork.
MARK WINGFIELD
___Lord knows we've tried--and tried and tried and tried. But nothing moves him.
___This is a 9-year-old who lives on peanut butter. I have visions of him as an adult going to business luncheons and special-ordering a peanut butter toast sandwich.
___Could we have changed his culinary course had we been more strict a few years ago? I think we might have stood a chance; Alison insists it wouldn't have made any positive difference.
___Pediatricians haven't been any fount of wisdom either. We've asked at least three about eating issues, and they all have the same line: Kids will instinctively eat enough to keep themselves going. Don't worry.
___Well, I do worry. And, frankly, I get embarrassed when we go places with other families and all the other kids are thrilled to eat hotdogs, hamburgers or pizza--and Garrett asks if we brought any peanut butter crackers along.
___So within the last year, I've embarked upon several creative means of positive reinforcement to get both our boys to try new foods. We even had Dad's Summer Eating Incentive Program, which was a qualified success.
___This little bit of bribery added five new foods to each boy's list of accepted foods. But even that sometimes backfires. The other night, I served Garrett a cheese quesadilla made with a slightly different type of cheese. He struggled to get it down with so much water that he eventually choked and spewed a whole mouthful out on the table. And boy, was he in trouble then.
___ But then I thought quietly to myself, "At least peanut butter would have stuck to the roof of his mouth."
___Stubborn child meets up against stubborn parent (not me).
___Unfortunately, Garrett is as headstrong and set in his ways as Mark. Makes for some pleasant meals at the Wingfield house. Lucky for me, I had to be somewhere the night Garrett spewed and therefore missed that episode.
___I can't believe we're complaining because our child won't eat hot dogs, hamburgers or pizza. Itisn't as if he should be eating those things that we all know are not good for us or our kids.
ALISON WINGFIELD
___Yes, it is exasperating. But as I keep telling Mark, at least he eats vegetables and fruit. He loves carrots and oranges, eats apples daily and will even eat cooked broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, snappeas and zucchini! I know a lot of kids who can barely choke down half of those.
___ He (and his brother for that matter) also can consume their weight in sweets, but they come by that honestly. Both their parents are recovering chocoholics.
___We keep trying.
___ I introduce new foods occasionally, and they choke them down. Luke continues to broaden his pallet inch by inch, a food here and a food there. Not so his brother. We hit a major milestone just last night when Garrett tried some fresh pineapple (which was very sweet and quite awesome) and actually liked it. The key words were "very sweet."
___ Garrett's unwillingness to expand his pallet reminds me of some of us as Christians.
___ We dine on spiritual milk, unwilling to take the steps needed to get into the real meat of the Christian life. And we miss out on a smorgasbord of spiritual blessings by sticking to our peanut butter faith.
PREVIOUS HE SAID/ SHE SAID COLUMNS:
1999: 6/16, 6/23, 6/30, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11, 8/18, 8/25, 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/29, 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27 11/17, 11/24, 12/1, 12/8, 12/15, 12/22,
2000: 1/5, 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8, 3/22, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22, 5/29, 6/5, 6/12, 6/19, 6/26, 7/10, 6/26, 6/19, 7/17, 7/24, 7/31, 8/7, 8/14, 8/21, 8/28, 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 11/6, 11/20, 11/27, 12/11.
2001: 1/1, 1/8, 1/22, 2/5, 2/12, 3/5, 4_19, 4/2, 4/23, 5/14 6/11, 6/25, 7/9, 7/23, 8/13, 9/3, 9/17, 10/9, 11/26, 12/3, 12/17
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