Egan's Turn

Today marks the day when it is Egan's turn to discover who really controls the house.  Starting with Ella, each of our four children around the age of 18 months has decided that not only would the house revolve around them (it really sort of does up to this point since being a helpless infant demands it), but now they will take the house and all power within for themselves.  Among the top hot power items for an 18 month old to hold is the "I will eat only the food I want to eat" power.  I have discovered that this power, while seemingly so small, can be crucial for the parent to hold for a future healthy parent-child relationship.  This battle won will contribute to the child knowing in their inmost consciousness who really holds the power in the house.

Egan tries (unsuccessfully) to eat something
other than last night's dinner

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have noticed Egan refusing to eat his healthy savory dinners--choosing, instead, to hold out until morning for his homemade pancake.  Last night I decided it was time to institute the "What's good for dinner is also good for breakfast, lunch and next dinner" philosophy.  In other words, he doesn't get to eat anything else until he finishes his dinner-- regardless of how long it takes.  This morning "starving Egan who did not eat his dinner last night" sat in his high chair eagerly awaiting his morning pancake.  To his dismay, what he was served was his plate of corn polenta and grilled zucchini from last night.  He was not pleased.  He refused to eat it.  When he was excused from the high chair he went to the kitchen and stretched and strained to grasp the bag of chocolate chip cookies (that he knew I had made the night before) from off of the counter.  I am curious how many skipped meals it will take for him to eat his corn polenta and zucchini.  As for Ella, she went 2 days without eating until she finally gave in and ate her spinach (I do allow them to drink milk or orange juice with the returned plate of food).  Those were an extremely painful two days of my life since she was my first child and I hated watching her become so weak from not eating.  I knew two things, though from watching my parents raise six children and then going to nursing school: 1. No normal child will starve him- or herself to death; 2.  This battle would be pivital for me and my children in knowing who had the power in the house and where the respect should lie.  Being a new mother, now 10 1/2 years ago (she is 12), I cannot express just how proud I was for the length Ella held out in her will by not eating her food.  My "What's good for dinner is also good for breakfast, lunch and next dinner" exercise, is not just about a battle of wills, it is an exercise in training my children's mind very early on to be strong in the face of adversity, how to hold out when physically you want to give in, and that once you have held-out in your position there may be a time to give in and that is OK.

I wait with anticipation to see how long Egan will hold-out...

First Test Post

This is the maiden voyage, although it is probably just around the bay and back.  At any rate, here it is.  Let's see how this looks!