About two years ago, a cookbook author sent me her book, Mom-a-licious
Something I read in the intro of Momalicious has stuck with me still, however. The author rightly assumed that I keep on hand fresh, healthy produce for my kids. Yes, my fridge and fruit basket are always filled with brightly colored bell pepper, strawberries, blackberries, fuji apples, and carrots. I buy avocados every week.
“But do I reach for those things when I want a snack?” she forced me to ask myself.
Nope. They’re for the kids.
Really, that’s what my subconscious thought process was. I wasn’t even aware of how I was treating myself until I read (skimmed) this book.
I see now that this is ridiculous. I am just as entitled to a bowl full of blueberries as the children. I can buy more blueberries if we run out. For some reason, this rationale did not come naturally to me. I was depriving myself of healthy food because I had mentally labeled those things as being for the kids. Two years after acknowledging this habit, I’m still working on my instinct to protect their stash.
Does anyone think that certain groceries are for the children? (And I don’t mean fishy crackers.)
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Yup. I do this too. My son loves fruit (veggies, not so much) so I have a hard time eating fruit. I’ve been buying bananas at a rate of about two bunches/week for the past year due to the banana-a-holic and I’m sure I’ve eaten less than a banana every other week. In my head, they’re ‘his bananas’ even though that makes no sense at all. Maybe I need to set a ‘fruit per day’ goal for myself to try to up my fruit intake.
guilty as charged…. organics are for the boy, tasteless affordable hothouse is for the parents. sigh. that said… i may raid the strawberries this afternoon.
I totally do this, even got irritated w/ hubs when he ate a banana i was saving for the baby. Guess I need to just buy more in the first place!
Wow. I honestly thought this was one of my own food weirdnesses that only I did. I can’t believe other moms think this way, too. I cut up organic peaches for both of my kids this morning for their cereal. None for me. I have a FOUR POUND bag of organic peaches in the freezer. I’m going to work on this!
Haha . . . Awesome. Just this morning I washed a handful of blueberries for the 21 month old put them into a bowl and then realized I could have some in my kefier too! And I did. But I felt guilty. Off season berries are expensive both monetarily and energy-use wise. Besides . . . if I have some too, who will be hungry for those ‘perfectly-good-if-not-mashed’ leftovers. Of which there are often many!
I do this *all the time*. The kids have even started noticing and the 5yo once told me I couldn’t have any blueberries because they were for him. That actually gave me a kick in the pants to start eating the good stuff myself.
I eat so much fruit my husband refers to me as a “fruitarian.” When I was still single and baby-free, I was at my friend’s house and went to help myself to some fruit, and she stopped me, saying it was just for her daughter. I thought that was so ridiculous! That would never fly at my house. I would starve!
I’m another one in the same boat. And worse, I do it with my husband’s fruit as well. I bought that for hubbie so I can’t eat it and I bought that for my son, so I can’t eat. Why don’t I buy fruit for me????
Yes I do it. and I know others as well. But this is our nature. Mothers all over the world will starve so their children can eat and thrive. nature and nurture at work here.
OMG! I do/did this too! Not only that, when the strawberries went bad and I had to throw those last 4 out, I would get so mad at myself. It took me forever – OK, about 2 or 3 years – to figure out that I could eat the strawberries too and we could just BUY MORE if we run out. I’m still working on it, but I am 90% better.
Thanks for the laugh.
I’m so glad you wrote about this…I do it all the time! Why do I feel so guilty for “eating the kid’s blueberries”? It’s ridiculous. And part of being a mama…always thinking of our babies first?
Great observation. I recently started to make sure I have enough fresh berries on hand for the both the children AND me. Moms deserve it too, yes?
All the time! I’ve started buying extra strawberries for just that reason; I want to enjoy them, too!
Just got up from my chair, went to the fridge, took an organic pink lady from the “lunchbox stash” and ate it. I think about child feeding every day, and it never occurred to me that I keep some food supply for my children separate from what I eat. Wow!
I absolutely do this. Two of my children adore frozen blueberries for a snack. So I buy them regularly, but I never eat them myself. They’re so expensive, so I save them for the kids. I usually save the bananas and apples for them, too, if we are getting low. I suppose I should just buy more fruit!
But the thought of going back to the store with children in tow for more bananas makes me cringe. Maybe Publix needs to start a Fruit Delivery Service for hungry moms!
So timely. I just caught myself thinking about “my food” and “their food” the other day. “My” food was good too, things like fennel and brussels sprouts but stuff they’d never touch. But that doesn’t mean I can’t eat the strawberries too! Thanks for pointing out that I have kindred spirits–makes me feel less nutty!
That is so me!
Yes! And I’m going to get a bowl of blueberries right now. Thanks for mentioning something I always knew, but never really thought.
All of the time I do this. Other than the normal ‘kiddie snacks’ that I have to fend the husband off from, banannas, grapes and strawberries tend to be the ‘no one touch but the kids’ snacks. I do try to buy enough for every one including kids but it is very much a habit to keep it all for them and none for the adults.