If Sam-I-am is a parent then he's pretty amazing! I realized this weekend after reading "Green Eggs and Ham" for the 127th time to my son that Sam-I-am is the bomb/my new hero. Here I am slaving away in the kitchen making healthy things for him to eat (nothing as cool as green eggs and ham, of course) and he just doesn't want to eat them. Not here or there or anywhere. You've read the book, you know how Sam offers the dish to the sticker on a train, on a boat, in a house, with a mouse. Sam is persistent and most importantly totally good attitude. He knows that if the stinker just tried the dang thing he'd like it. I've been bending over backwards trying to get my own little stinker to eat and I am NOT as good attitude as Sam. If I'm successful it's only becauseA) I bribe him
B) I convince him that ____ (fill in with current obsession, i.e. Thomas the Train, Elmo, dinosaurs) eats his food and that if Enzo ever wants to be a dinosaur then he too must eat his mashed potatoes and fish.
C) I make it a competition. This is my least favorite because I am not a competitive person but it totally works. I put food on a plate that is decorated with animals and I tell him that if he doesn't eat his food fast the animals on his plate will eat it first. He's all about competing with the two dimensional animal drawings. In the mind of a two year old this makes perfect sense, of course.
I know this is bad parenting. I never said I was a good parent but I do love my child and I want him to eat something other than rice cakes. If I don't get new ideas fast I'm totally going to turn into the evil version of Sam-I-Am. Instead of offering to feed him with a fox, I'm going to feed him TO a fox.
Any thoughts on how to get my 2 year old stinker to finally say...
I do so like
________ and ______!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Mom-I-am!
