Dear Mom,

Since the beginning of our P90X journey, the meals in our house have been a little...different; more healthy, less processed, not out of a box, and not ready in 5 minutes.  This has caused my children much stress.  They are for the most part good eaters.  Vegetables are usually the first to disappear from their plates, followed by the fruit, then the meat.  And I can't complain about that.  Except that the "meat" is mostly in the form of a hot dog, corn dog, chicken nugget, or macaroni and cheese.  (What am I doing to their poor young bodies?)  It's no wonder they eat their fruits and vegetables first!

Before P90X, whenever I fixed chicken I would hear every complaint as to why it couldn't be eaten.  "It's burned" (grill marks), "it's too spicy", "it just doesn't taste good", yadda, yadda, yadda!  With P90X, we have chicken 2-3 times a week for dinner, and fish 2-3 times each week as well.  My son is allergic to fish and my daughter conveniently doesn't like it, so on fish nights, the kids get to have their overly-processed "meat".  You can imagine the increase of complaints we have had to endure with the new and healthier meals I have been preparing.  I have always taught my children not to complain about the food that is put before them; they should be thankful that they have good food to eat and it isn't nice to make the cook feel bad.  But things were starting to get out of control.  It was time for a new rule.

The new rule was that if you complained about what was for dinner that night, the food that was left on your plate went away, and you didn't get anything else to eat until breakfast the next day.  That may seem harsh to some, but my kids aren't going to starve overnight, and hopefully they will be hungry enough that it will teach them a lesson.  Both kids were reminded several times of the new rule as soon as they started their protest.

Then there were no more warnings.

My son was first to break the rule.  We were having chicken, and the whining commenced.  His plate was taken away...he had only eaten a few vegetables if anything, and he had to go the rest of the night without anything else to eat.  He was very upset and crying, but he was reminded that he had made his own choice.  What made it especially difficult for him was that his piano lesson was that night, and they always get treats during their lesson.  He knew he wouldn't be allowed to eat any of them.

Before we left for his piano lesson, he handed me this note...

Poor thing!  He thinks I cook food he doesn't like on purpose!  Well, we had a little talk that night, and guess what?  I haven't heard a complaint about what the chef cooked for dinner for 2 weeks!

Gotta love those rules!

K