 |
| you don't have to eat those vegetables ... just prepare them |
At least when you live at my house there.
I have been gone for three weeks now, and David Camps asked his mother why they continue to have so many Arta meals.
That is code for meals that have a lot of vegetables. David never has to eat the crudités – code word for vegetables. But he does have to help in their preparation. And when you don’t have to eat them, only touch them, cut them, name them, categorize them, then working with them isn’t that frightening.
 |
| ... the deck after snow removal is done ... |
This was my first chance to work at keeping the deck shoveled off.
When you see the beauty after the work is done, well, actually, as you enjoy the beauty while doing the work, the job doesn’t seem as daunting.
 |
| ... looking south through the clump birch ... |
Oh, Bonnie might have had to shovel her snow out of a snow bank a few times on the way to work.
And she got a lesson from David Wood – one can never have too many lessons about how much spin to put on the wheels while trying to drive up to Five Corners.
If you don’t know how much spin, the answer is none
 |
| Caption: ice-packed or ... will this shoulder ever heal |
Arta
We were so lucky to have you stay here for so long. I remember David playing with those vegetables, and being simultaneously pleased that he was touching, smelling, playing with food and silencing voices that were saying "don't waste food".
ReplyDeleteUnexpected aspect of parenting.
Made so much progress with your help. Veggies are being eaten from lunches, applesauce is being requested, and I have great memories of David's red angry bird piercing the skin of grape tomatoes.
Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteBoth of us were trying to silence the voices that say, don't waste food, or do you know how many children are starving in China. Those voices and hundreds of others get in the way of helping a child get used to vegetables he hates. Remember David did all of that cutting and then wanted to save the mess to work on it the next day. That was hard for me. I put it in a Tupperware container and saved it for two days. By then it was more composte-like than my real compost.
And yes to letting him take a toy with a beak and pierce the grape tomato and lettuce and whatever he wanted to work with. Or use his knife to cut the asparagus, slimy and slick and potent with vinegar. He lined those up on the side of the plate -- couldn't have got him to do that by ordering him to. Three cheers for the help from that professional behavioural therapist. The idea of food to learn with rather than food that is now wasted worked for me.
Arta