Comments on: Things Nice People Already Know: Willy Wonka Had The Right Idea

By: Fausta’s Blog » Blog Archive » Paris, tea parties, and tires: Friends’ posts roundup

Fri, 15 May 2009 21:24:48 +0000

[...] makes a point about parenting. Leave the kids at home when shopping, [...]

By: Liz Ditz

Liz Ditz — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:58:06 +0000

A great post, Jane.

Juggernaut: Is it reasonable to ask a 4.5-year-old to chew with her mouth closed? Yes. But with lots of reminders.

As to the picky eaters: back when the grown kids were young, we all learned about hospitality and compromise via the dinner offerings.

Examples:

As a family of five:

*two of us loathed cauliflower and three of us thought it was one of the top 3 vegetables. The compromise part was that cauliflower was served at least once a week. The hospitality part is that another vegetable was also prepared (not difficult with frozen vegetables).

*one of us loathed lamb in any form. This was a challenge as we were raising sheep at the time. So on lamb-for-dinner nights, one of the side dishes was always a hearty casseroleish thing, made extra-large so the lamb-hater could have extra helpings.

Here’s the trick: the compromise & hospitality aspects of the meal were always discussed as part of the dinner conversation.

By: Kitty

Kitty — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:18:01 +0000

Too right. At the moment I do two meals, one for my son and then another for myself & my OH, but that’s simply because we prefer to eat much later than he needs to, but that is purely for my convenience, not his.

Jugglernaut: I expect my 2.5yo boy to keep his mouth shut and not talk while he’s eating, and most of the time he manages it, so I would say it’s more than reasonable to expect it of a 4.5yo.

By: Faith

Faith — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:58:06 +0000

Willy Wonka did have the right idea.

By: jen

jen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:12:33 +0000

Funny this came up right now. Both boys went to bed last night without dinner. They both decided they’d rather pitch a fit over what we were having and that was it. At bedtime, when they decided they were both starving, it was too bad so sad. This has been going on forEVER. I figure eventually they’ll figure it out and just eat. It’s not like I’m making liver and onions, last night was grilled chicken and rice. Sigh…

By: pendy

pendy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:21:27 +0000

Oh, yes! Also, Willie Wonka is my hero…love the way he dealt with those dreadful children.

By: Kathy B

Kathy B — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:27:19 +0000

I could have written this!

By: Jugglernaut

Jugglernaut — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:29:40 +0000

I would SO MUCH like to forward this post to my sister to encourage her to start correcting my darling niece . . .

Quick question from someone who is rarely around kids: Is it reasonable to ask a 4.5-year-old to chew with her mouth closed?

By: Mrs. Chili

Mrs. Chili — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:37:33 +0000

Oh A-FREAKING-MEN!!

By: kenju

kenju — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:29:36 +0000

I saw Oprah today, and she had on that guy Walsh whose son was abducted/killed 27 years ago. His wife was in a store with Adam, and she told him…”I’ll be in the lamp dept.” I don’t know where Adam was, but it was probably in the toy or TV department. How people can leave any child unattended anywhere nowadays I will never understand!!