So my dear writer friend Jill (Check her out ... she Rocks!) is talking about underestimating things ... time being one ... food being another. I mean I'm sure none of you have ever underestimated how much food you intended to eat. I know I do it pretty much every day have never done something like that!
Then I made a comment - trying to come up with a good excuse - that my mother always made to me as a child.
"There are starving kids out there!"
Which was always followed with,
"Do you think they'd want to waste their food. You should be grateful for the food you have."
After which I would think,
"These peas suck, do you want me to put them in a box and ship them to the starving kids? Cuz I'll totally do it. I've got no problem with sharing!"
So after making this 'starving children' comment I started thinking...that is the most horrible comment EVER! I mean think about it. In a matter of words we are saying something insanely inappropriate.
"You have tons of food and these kids have none. So be happy that you aren't a poor starving child with nothing and in remembrance to those children... Eat up!!!"
Seriously?!?!
Now I don't know about you, but in reality this thought makes me completely NOT want to eat. There are starving kids out there. They don't get to eat, but I'm suppose to go shove my face with food (whether I like it or not) and rationalize how this is somehow helping these kids.
Is anyone else bothered by this? Granted when I was 6 or 7 years old I totally understood what my mom was trying to say, but now that I'm an adult ... I find it slightly entertaining that our parents said this to us thinking it would get us to eat our food.
Ahhhh Parenthood. Full of ridiculous threats and irrational comments! Isn't it grand what comes out of our mouths at the spur of the moment?
Now you better comment on this blog or I'll tell your father and you won't see the TV again for at least a year! And during that time you'll be washing the floor with your toothbrush!
12 comments:
I've never thought of it that way, but you are SO right! It's a horrible thing to say and apparently all moms said it (I know mine did.)
I usually say, "You can be done, but if you're scraping your plate I don't want to hear you say you're hungry later!!" Sigh.
Is there a better thing to say to get our kids to eat? Or maybe we should just give small helpings and give them seconds if they *are* hungry?
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
What? Underestimate how much I can eat? I didn't know that was even a possibility.
Now, "You just wait until your father comes home!"
Haha!!! So funny!!
My mom never said that to me. I mentioned it to her once--guess I'd heard it on tv or something--and she shrugged, saying, "Whether you eat your food or not won't help those kids in africa. You'll have to do it another way. There's no correlation there." She's right, but I still felt guilty! How's that for weird?
You are right. That's messed up. I don't think I've used that line on my kids yet and now I never will.
My Mother said it almost every day! I hate peas by the way.
Funny post!
Blessings to you...
The only thing worse than peas is the mixed veggies...the frozen ones...where the peas are like rocks and the carrots like mush...and they all tasted like dirt. Gag.
Yes, let's ship them your dinner, mom! lol.
My aunt used to say that. I literlly told her to box up my food and ship it to Africa. She never said that to me again.
I also hate peas. They give me nightmares. Probably due to that babysitter who made me, at the age of about 6, sit at a table with a giant bowl of peas in front of me from lunchtime until 5:30 when my mom came to pick me up because I couldn't/wouldn't finish them. My mom never sent me to that babysitter again, and I've barely eaten peas since.
So many horrible food related memories from childhood. You'd think it strange how much I love food now! LOL
That is pretty messed up.
#1 love the picture!
#2 I also love the thought. Seriously! Why didn't our parents just ship some extra food to the starving children?
#3 Have you used that one on your kids? ;)
I despise peas...and now I force my kids to eat them.
Isn't parenthood sweetly hypocritical! LOL
I have never (more than once or twice) said that to my kids!
I'm wincing, Marybeth, because I've used this same ridiculous thought on my oldest daughter. *sigh* Maybe I'll rework the lesson. Thanks for provoking my thoughts with this!
And that photo is awesome.
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