pasta — Blog — Eat or Starve

Our youngest is transitioning from a wonderful family daycare to the real thing in a few weeks. She is turning three soon and I know she will love making friends with kids outside of our extended family plus, unlike our oldest, she enjoys interacting with people. The new daycare/preschool boasts that all the meals are made by a local chef with as much local produce as possible. Nothing processed if it can be avoided. Idealist Mom, that still lives tucked away deep inside me, reared her thoughtful little head and marveled at the wonderful, nutritious foods M would be munching on daily. As the director rattled off a sample meal plan that made my mouth water, Idealistic Mom was quickly replaced with Panic Attack Mom.

There were no chicken nuggets listed, pizza only once a week? Handmade tortellini? We tried that meal and M ate the blue berries and drank her milk.

As my husband chatted with the director about farm raised chickens, Spanish classes and other such daycare adventures I began weighing the options:

We pack a breakfast and lunch for her daily that consists of foods she will actually eat but have no variety. Bonus, this way we can be judged by all those awesome people that have kids that actually eat a variety of foods and have never so much as smelled a McDonald's chicken nugget.
We throw her to the mercy of hunger and see if she branches out a bit. Bonus, this way we can be judged by all those people that pack meals for their kids so they don't starve.

Did I mention she fell off the growth chart for a while? By the time we were headed home I was mentally calculating if we could afford for me to quit my job and just stay home with her. I will admit I tend to think catastrophically when I get anxious.

At the end of the day, we all work to prepare our kids for the real world in different ways; some families discuss manners, some work on hygiene, some work on academics. Our family is working on eating. Eat or Starve and be kind to others, now go to daycare/school.