Corn Dogs

From the mouth of my five year old at a restaurant this weekend and pretty much every day for the last month…

“Mom, I don’t like meat. I won’t eat that.”

Me reading the kids menu: “chicken tenders, mac’n’cheese, pulled pork sliders, apple slices, mini corn dogs….”

“Corn dogs!!!!”

Ugh. What she means is she’ll turn down every quality type of meat or non-meat option (steak, fish, chicken breast, pork chops, veggie w/ protein-filled option, pork or beef roast) for a mechanically separated hot dog.

*sigh* This is just a phase… Until it passes, do you:

a) keep offering the good stuff but let her eat whatever she chooses?

b) put the food on her plate and make her try it but relent after a few bites?

c) hold firm that she will only eat what everyone else is eating (in the case of me cooking at home)?

I’m all ears. She’s a stubborn one, but I’m also not a short-order cook.

My husband is of the opinion that “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” He didn’t grow up with any options. It was a lot of beans, tortillas and bologna at his house.

I grew up with solid meals but we did the intensive labor behind them in the summer. My mom canned from our garden, so we had fresh veggies in the summer and preserved ones in the winter. Picking and processing cherries and apples from the orchard was one of our summer jobs. We raised cattle and pigs, so meat wasn’t a problem. The grocery store also supplemented our meals.

She’d choose to eat junk mixed with a few oranges all day if we’d let her.

Basically, we are both opposed to regular consumption of corn dogs and the like because we do have healthier options available. So…. how do we navigate this phase?