(James enjoying a "Shrek shake" - blended spinach, orange, and banana - he devours them!)
I've heard of stories where parents are surprised by their coming-of-age children deciding on a whim, or even after much thought, that they want to be a vegetarian. Sometimes, I'm sure, the resolution sticks, but more often I'm guessing the children are just trying out their independence - seeing what kind of a reaction they get. I'm not sure which one my child is playing at, but I am sure that I never expected him to decide quite so young!
Okay, so maybe James hasn't decided to be a vegetarian. But he has most certainly decided that he does not like meat. I guarantee as many of my family members are reading this they are now saying to themselves that this is my doing. I assure you it is not. Though I do enjoy cooking vegetarian food, and admittedly do so quite frequently, we are not vegetarians nor have I eliminated meat from our diet. I think meat is a perfectly good thing to eat, especially for kids who need the protein, iron, and anything else that might be useful to their little growing bodies. I think my child should eat meat, but no matter how hard I try I simply cannot convince James to eat the stuff. I've even stooped to doing those things that you usually hear about parents doing to convince their children to eat vegetables... blending it into unrecognizable bits that essentially disappear in a meal, combining it with favorite foods, serving it warm, serving it cold, in a sandwich, in a soup, in a house, on a boat, with a cracker, with a mouse (well, maybe not on a boat or with a mouse, but I do feel like Sam I Am at times). No matter what, if I've put meat in a meal, James seems to be able to sniff it out, and rejects it just about every time.
The other day Jon thought we'd broken through: we had some frozen chicken nuggets given to us from a friend who was moving and getting rid of perishable foods. He served them to James for lunch, and James loved them. Triumphantly, Jon reported to me that afternoon that he'd finally convinced James to like meat ... until I reminded him that our friend was a vegetarian, and that those "chicken" nuggets were actually "chick'n" nuggets. Pretend meat. Jon was fooled, but James was not.
I'm convinced this will pass, and that we will not actually be raising a vegetarian. After all, we were finally able to get him to switch to drinking cow's milk instead of just soymilk. But in the meantime, it looks like we'll be serving up plenty of fruits, veggies, beans, and tofu to our little meat-hater. (Jon's not complaining, by the way, because he ends up getting to eat all the rejected meat concoctions that I've made.)
