“Parenting According to ……..Food!”

By  R.F. Wright

While everything ethnic becomes more popular than ever (popular being one of the least important reasons to celebrate ethninticity, but we’ll take what we can get, and gladly call it progress) don’t forget to include the children at each opportunity to learn.  There are a wide variety of ways to enjoy and explore different cultures.  Food, my personal favorite, is just one of many, and what the heck…you get to eat it, too!

But a little background information and an impromptu history lesson is even better.  Most of us “Multi-Cultural Parents” already have these mini history lessons on board anyway.

So the next time you take the family out for Mexican, Soul Food, or Italian, take a little time and share some information.  Eat and learn.  After all…you have a very captive audience. And if the crowd starts to turn ugly….just order desert.

“Who’s a Foodie?”

By R.F. Wright

My kids make me hip.  Or…is it, my kids make me cool?  Make me….tight?  Well, anyway.  There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear a new word that I have never heard before, drifting up the stairs or shouted at the TV.  They have a universal language all their own and there is no confusion what so ever.  They are all on the same page.Now if your kids are anything like mine, and I know that they are, when you ask them what they want for dinner, you hear a resounding “Pizza!” Or “MacDonald’s!”   My youngest son was sitting in the back seat in his car seat one day, when I heard him give a shout-out to “MacDonald’s!”  This took me totally by surprise.  He was only 2.  Could not read.  He recognized the Golden Arches.  Pretty scary.

So…it’ ok.  All kids love MacDonald’s, right?  It’s like a right of passage.  They are just not interested in food trends, California cuisine, or trying ethnic dishes at one of the newest Restaurants that just opened up and are “all the rage.”  Right?  Wrong!Hope springs eternal, even when were talking vegetables.

My sons went to the Bay Area for a vacation last year to visit their “Auntie.”  Now she is very cool.  She’s about 15 years my junior and lives in the Big City .  She achieved Total Coolness right away.  I don’t think she ever didn’t  have Total Coolness.  They went everywhere, Shopping.  Sightseeing.  And of coarse, ate  at all the best places, without MacDonalds as a main staple.  Can you believe that?So, the first occasion I had to say, “What do you want for dinner?”  You can imagine my surprise when they yelled ( in unison ) “Sushi!”I was stunned.  They were 10 and 8 at the time.  “God, I wish someone else was around to hear this, nobody is gonna believe me.”Parents, take heart.  It can happen.  Instilling good habits and character in our children is always on our minds. That little nagging something in the back of your mind that seems to pop up all the time.  And teaching our children good eating habits is very important to their health and happiness.It does cost you a little more.  But, when you consider all the bad things they won’t be consuming, how much better off they will be, and let’s not forget how impressed your friends will be, you can feel good about eating on the run.So when the kids ask you what a “foodie” is, and you tell them, “they are”, be sure to look cool when you say it.But the really big winner is…you!  You will never have to shout “Super Size it!” at the clown again.

Now, that’s what I call….cool.