Food
I recently read a frightening post on a local mommyblog. It was about the blogger's 11-year-old daughter's recent shift in eating habits - when she entered middle school she started packing herself very small lunches, and often not eating any of what she packed. She comes home ravenous. The author, and many commenters, report that it is not okay for girls to eat lunch in middle school. Being seen to eat is shameful.
A chill went down my spine when I read that. I have long had a dark fear that middle school is going to eat my daughters (especially Dutch, who is sensitive to social cues and very invested in her social status).
We recently instituted a new practice; Dutch makes dinner once a week. I don't mean she makes it alone, but she chooses the recipe, she takes the lead, and she does much of the work. She's made three meals so far (pasta with roasted peppers, mac and cheese, and bean/avocado/salsa quesadillas), and it's going well. I feel like it's a parenting thing we're actually getting right (at least for NOW), and, to be honest, there aren't many of those these days with Dutch.Our goals are to:
1) Get Dutch comfortable with some basic cooking skills (meal-planning, reading a recipe, cutting things, etc.),
2) Get Dutch helping out with household duties, and
3) Show Dutch how much time and labor it takes to produce meals.
Anyway. I've written about some of my feelings about parenting a daughter and addressing Food. That was a while ago, but I still feel the same. I have no idea what I'm doing with parenting, and I certainly can't manage eating well myself. Dutch loves to eat food that's bad for her, and I'm guessing she will have similar issues with food and eating that I do. I just cross my fingers that what I can show and tell her will balance out society, genetics, and my bad role modeling. I hope.
A chill went down my spine when I read that. I have long had a dark fear that middle school is going to eat my daughters (especially Dutch, who is sensitive to social cues and very invested in her social status).
We recently instituted a new practice; Dutch makes dinner once a week. I don't mean she makes it alone, but she chooses the recipe, she takes the lead, and she does much of the work. She's made three meals so far (pasta with roasted peppers, mac and cheese, and bean/avocado/salsa quesadillas), and it's going well. I feel like it's a parenting thing we're actually getting right (at least for NOW), and, to be honest, there aren't many of those these days with Dutch.Our goals are to:
1) Get Dutch comfortable with some basic cooking skills (meal-planning, reading a recipe, cutting things, etc.),
2) Get Dutch helping out with household duties, and
3) Show Dutch how much time and labor it takes to produce meals.
Anyway. I've written about some of my feelings about parenting a daughter and addressing Food. That was a while ago, but I still feel the same. I have no idea what I'm doing with parenting, and I certainly can't manage eating well myself. Dutch loves to eat food that's bad for her, and I'm guessing she will have similar issues with food and eating that I do. I just cross my fingers that what I can show and tell her will balance out society, genetics, and my bad role modeling. I hope.
Comments
I have similar feelings about middle school- dread!