There’s a petty war going on in my house, there probably has been since our first child started eating solids. Essentially, it’s fun cereal versus sensible cereal. Maybe you’re guessing from the title that I’m in the fun camp.
Mr L can be quite boring in his food choices, only in some areas, he’s willing to try new foods and he’s a foodie like me, but he likes what I would call ‘boring’ cereal like plain shreddies, Weetabix, muesli, etc. If I am choosing cereal I like things like cinnamon toast crunch, chocolate crunch, maple pecan muesli, and so on. You are getting the picture. Perhaps that’s why my cholesterol is high. But so is his, so go figure.
This difference would be fine, but then we had children together. We agree on a lot of things and we are mostly harmonious with the odd outburst. OK back to the cereal. My youngest son who is currently 8 loves plain shreddies, always has done and he’s a creature of habit. He has sugar on them, so they aren’t completely bland.
If I buy cereal, I have accepted the shreddies, my daughter, who is currently 12 prefers things like honey hoops or Cheerios. If I buy something premium like cinnamon toast crunch or the ultimate, Kraze (a chocolate-filled pillow cereal) they go very quickly. So I try not to buy those, but they do make me very popular.
Last month I went to buy shreddies but they didn’t have any, but they did have chocolate shreddies. When I serve these to my son, I don’t add sugar like I do with the normal shreddies, so I figure they are basically the same. Mr L thinks they are worse for you because you don’t control the amount of sugar you put on them.
I think you know what’s going to happen here. Daniel now prefers the chocolate shreddies, so when I go shopping, I buy them for him, when Mr L goes shopping, he buys the normal shreddies. Daniel will eat either without complaint, so it doesn’t really matter which one, but if he has the choice he will choose the chocolate ones, as will Phoebe, my daughter.
What has prompted this blog post is that this morning, Mr L came into the room I was in and he seemed a little agitated. I am an empath so I new something was bothering him. He worked up to it and then he asked me not to buy the chocolate shreddies anymore. I thought about arguing my point about the sugar and that basically the kids preferred them, but instead I just agreed. He does the majority of the shopping, because I struggle with chronic pain and fatigue, and also he enjoys going to choose and feel the products.
Basically, as you might have guessed, it’s not about the shreddies. I like buying the chocolate cereal because I like how it gives the children pleasure and then they feel gratitude and favour towards me. He likes buying the plain cereal because he likes how it keeps them healthy and strong and it’s better for their overall health. I also like Mr L being happy, so I guess he wins this battle, but secretly we all do.
Which one of us do you identify with?
