Friday, December 18, 2009

What's a Mother to DO?

There are two kinds of moms in the world. The kind that is going crazy because their home is decorated in Early Food Fight, and those who swear," Oh, no! I never EVER let anyone eat outside the kitchen!" They always leave out how they manage to accomplish this. Those of us in the former category (Does that shock you that I'm in the former category? No? Just that I would ask? Very well, then!)-AS I was saying, FOR the RECORD, those of us whose homes look like they were painted by a dispose-all do not LET our offspring eat outside the kitchen. No. We do NOT say, "honey, here's some peanut butter and jelly, go run in the living room to play with it and eat a bit of it!" I willingly admit that some of these morsels get by me because I'm an airhead, but I bet if I hired guards at the entrances to the kitchen, occasionally, even they would get duped. We are once again at that stage where I long for a new decor. So, I decided I needed to make a clear simple rule and follow through. I told my kids that every time I found any food in the same room as the Wii, NO ONE could use it for a week. If I found food in the vicinity of the computer, no computer for a week. If I found food within a 20 foot radius of the TV, no TV for a week. No one can use the Wii till Saturday. No one can use the TV till Monday. There's just one problem. Now I keep finding crumbs and leftover food in the bathroom. Some wars you just can't win. How can I tell them they can't use the bathroom for a week?

P.S. What the freaking heck is wrong with eating in the kitchen?????!!! Someone please, please tell me now. I'm dying to know.

6 comments:

Kat said...

Ha! I thought those rules would work for sure! Keep it up and I'm sure it will sink in eventually. :)

4boyzmdmom said...

That wouldn't work with my kids, either--I've tried that before! I am just waiting for someone to post a comment with the answers to what is wrong with eating in the kitchen and how they get their kids to eat in the kitchen. I would love to know the answer to both of those questions also!
In the meantime, I guess crumbs in the bathroom are better than crumbs in the living room, right?!

RAQ said...

lol! Most problems with food outside the kitchen happen at our house when a. I am gone or b. I am not paying attention. I've found kids have no sense of cleanliness!

The Cranes said...

Yeah, I want to know HOW people get their kids to stay in the kitchen with food. I've been fighting that battle for years myself, with consequences that never work. Maybe the next step should be to stop going to the grocery store?! If there's no food in the house at all...

The Sports Mama said...

I'm sitting here laughing at the mental image of someone curled up in the bathtub, shower curtain pulled shut, hiding so that they can eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich in peace. :)

Patty O. said...

What a great post! We have this war in our house too. I try to be super vigilant, because we get bugs in our family room (actually, we get them even when there is no food, but whatever). This really made me laugh!