Snack Time Woes
The boys are discovering the wonderful world of snacks. Daddy needs a way to get things done without being bothered. A way to load the dishwasher without the children pulling dishes out as fast as I can put them back in. A way to clean the fish tank without the children playing in my buckets of water. A way to read a 4000-word treatise on why the BCS should be abolished without the children screaming at me in stereo. The way I used to accomplish these tasks was to wait until naptime, and work while my children snooze. My children don’t nap much anymore, though, and as Abbie learned long ago snack time increases and nap time decreases.
I’d love to be the responsible parent, the kind who reaches for the brain building activities instead of food for entertainment. Right now those activities inevitably lead to fights as one boy grabs an interesting piece, the other boy steals it, and the first boy bites his sibling into submission. Therefore, games don’t work so well as minimally supervised entertainment. Food can be easily shared since no Goldfish is more interesting than another, making it more suitable entertainment when I’ve got chores to do. Plus, the boys still try to eat everything I give them, so I might as well give them something edible.
Cereal makes an optimal snack. It’s generally healthy, and breaks down when spilled into small dry bits ideal for vacuuming. When Abbie was their age, I was already giving her a small bowl of cereal for a snack. She’d daintily eat it until she lost interest in it, at which point she’d drop it on the floor, the dog would clean up, and I could go about life thinking I’d just given Abbie a filling and nutritious snack. Giving the boys small bowls of cereal doesn’t work as well, though. They usually assume the other guy has something better, and will knock his bowl on the ground attempting to inspect it. Even on those rare occasions when they eat from their own bowls, after a couple kibbles of cereal they start wondering if something tastier like chips or marshmallows could be hiding at the bottom of the bowl. They’ll then dump the contents on the ground in search of the elusive tastier pieces. At that point three bowls worth of cereal will be strewn across the floor, and our dog in her advanced middle age can’t keep up with that.
When I was in a hurry, I used to give Abbie an entire box of cereal as a snack. I knew this was folly because she’d eventually tire pour it on the ground to pick out the marshmallow pieces. I’d occasionally take a chance because if I moved quickly enough, though, I could take back the box before she lost interest in the oat pieces. The boys have no such patience. If I give them a box or bag of something requiring them to reach inside to remove the food, they’ll immediately dump it on the floor and pick it off the ground. Since neither the dog nor the vacuum can keep up with that much spilled food, this is always a disaster hygienically and fiscally.
I occasionally leave boxes foolishly within the boys’ reach. As a result, our kitchen floor currently has residue from emptied boxes of Wheat Squares, Bran Flakes, and pretzels. I’m doing my best to clean the crumbs from various corners, but the kids won’t leave me alone long enough to work, and giving them snacks to distract them seems counterproductive.
I’d love to be the responsible parent, the kind who reaches for the brain building activities instead of food for entertainment. Right now those activities inevitably lead to fights as one boy grabs an interesting piece, the other boy steals it, and the first boy bites his sibling into submission. Therefore, games don’t work so well as minimally supervised entertainment. Food can be easily shared since no Goldfish is more interesting than another, making it more suitable entertainment when I’ve got chores to do. Plus, the boys still try to eat everything I give them, so I might as well give them something edible.
Cereal makes an optimal snack. It’s generally healthy, and breaks down when spilled into small dry bits ideal for vacuuming. When Abbie was their age, I was already giving her a small bowl of cereal for a snack. She’d daintily eat it until she lost interest in it, at which point she’d drop it on the floor, the dog would clean up, and I could go about life thinking I’d just given Abbie a filling and nutritious snack. Giving the boys small bowls of cereal doesn’t work as well, though. They usually assume the other guy has something better, and will knock his bowl on the ground attempting to inspect it. Even on those rare occasions when they eat from their own bowls, after a couple kibbles of cereal they start wondering if something tastier like chips or marshmallows could be hiding at the bottom of the bowl. They’ll then dump the contents on the ground in search of the elusive tastier pieces. At that point three bowls worth of cereal will be strewn across the floor, and our dog in her advanced middle age can’t keep up with that.
When I was in a hurry, I used to give Abbie an entire box of cereal as a snack. I knew this was folly because she’d eventually tire pour it on the ground to pick out the marshmallow pieces. I’d occasionally take a chance because if I moved quickly enough, though, I could take back the box before she lost interest in the oat pieces. The boys have no such patience. If I give them a box or bag of something requiring them to reach inside to remove the food, they’ll immediately dump it on the floor and pick it off the ground. Since neither the dog nor the vacuum can keep up with that much spilled food, this is always a disaster hygienically and fiscally.
I occasionally leave boxes foolishly within the boys’ reach. As a result, our kitchen floor currently has residue from emptied boxes of Wheat Squares, Bran Flakes, and pretzels. I’m doing my best to clean the crumbs from various corners, but the kids won’t leave me alone long enough to work, and giving them snacks to distract them seems counterproductive.
posted by Matt at
11:35 PM
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