What is it about kids that make them think Mom is a vending machine? Lauren gets off the buss and the first thing she says (literally) is, "I'm hungry!" Annika will be riding in the car and suddenly announce, "Hungry!" Like I have a little button on me that I push and food just spits out.
"Do you see any food with me?" I ask.
"But I'm hungry!"
Frustrated sigh from me, "I'm not a vending machine! You'll have to wait until I can fix a snack."
"Don't you have an apple"
"No."
"Yogurt?"
Trying not to sound as frustrated as I feel, I inform her, "No, I do not have any food with me."
"But you should. You should always have food with you!"
Again, "I'm not a vending machine; you should be OK for a short while." And why should I always have food with me??!! Good grief child, I fix you three meals a day and two healthy snacks; I spend a good deal of effort to balance veggies, whole grains, proteins and calcium products to ensure you have a healthy diet full of nutritious foods and not empty calories. Children in Africa literally are starving, while you eat 5-6 times A DAY! You are NOT hungry! Trust me.
Bill worries about them eating all the time. I assure him that 95% of the food they do eat is nutrient dense and not loaded with empty calories. But his doubt has ebbed into my brain, and now I doubt my own instincts. And, maybe Annika is eating a little more than she should. Maybe. So I visit the food pyramid web site and play a little game to see how many calories they have consumed.
Maybe they are hungry after all. Turns out my non-stop eating kids only eat about 1200-1400 calories a day, and they should be eating about 16000. Well, basically I trust them to know when they are hungry for food (not junk) and I offer them healthy, growing food when they are hungry.
But, geeeees, don't ask for food while I am driving in the car. I am not a vending machine!!
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