Nothing in life is black or white, and parenting always brings dilemmas. Even if the choice seems so clear at times.
Bianca (35) is the divorced mother of Bo (3). She has a blended family with Lars (41), father of three children (8, 7 and 4).
“Come on, Bo,” my friend Lars tried on the fourth night of our first blended family vacation at an all-inclusive resort. “One bite of potato.”
His children ate meals three times a day that an average adult male could not compete with, but my daughter has consistently refused any bite since we landed in Spain that did not contain lettuce, peas or ice cream. Come on, a piece of baguette, that also went in.
She drank well, was cheerful, so I decided not to fight it during the holidays. Her preference wasn’t that unhealthy, at most a little limited. My friend was less pleased with my daughter’s behavior. That was how she inspired his youngest, he feared, and did I realize it was a power play on her part? Nonsense, I thought, especially when I didn’t give her that power. She ate right?
Read also – Why playing with food is actually good for children, according to research >
Compromises
The situation continued to cause tension between Lars and me for the rest of the holiday. Such a first holiday with children means testing and making compromises, we knew that in advance. Conversely, I sometimes raised an eyebrow when I saw how Lars completely ignored quarrels between his sons while they hurt each other.
Still, the eating situation did not sit well with me. What if this continued at home, and Lars forced my daughter to eat other things? How do you deal with a partner who has very different parenting ideas?
Weekend meal
We are now back home and Bo is eating a bit more than her standard lettuce and peas leaves, although it is not something to write home about yet.
Lars and I have agreed that as long as we don’t live together, he’ll respect my parenting rules and I’ll respect his, even if we don’t agree. And so last weekend at my house I served his children a delicious weekend meal of baguettes and salads, with a large bowl of ice cream.”
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2023-08-21 21:37:32
#daughter #ate #peas #lettuce #ice #cream #summer #fine
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