Parents of the Year

Bryan and I will be claiming this title at the close of the year.  The awesomeness of our parental abilities knows no limits.  On most days my children are the ones who wander around uttering the phrases "Can I have a snack?" or "When's lunch (or dinner)?" which would lead most people to believe my children are, in fact, never fed, which isn't true.  I actually think that my kids are on a quest to eat us out of house and home.

In discussing what we'd like to eat for dinner tonight, I suggested to Bryan that we have hamburgers tonight.  Bryan, who spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cooking hot dogs and burgers on the grill at Madeline's birthday pool party didn't want to grill anymore this weekend.  Understandable, but I still wanted a burger.  The one I had yesterday was chilly by the time I managed to get halfway though it.  Such is life, when you are hosting a party and trying to make sure everyone has what they need.  Everyone that is, but our children.

Ellie was listening to our discussion about tonight's dinner and mentioned that she didn't have a cheese burger yesterday. I instantly started to fret when I realized that she hadn't had a cheeseburger during the party.  I was upset primarily because we didn't eat dinner until 9PM last night.  Ellie survived on chips, a soft pretzel, cookie cake and a cupcake for most of yesterday.  I realize it's not the worst that could have happened, but I feel so badly that she didn't have a decent lunch or timely dinner.  The funny thing was she never complained once that she was hungry.

When Madeline came home from swimming at the neighbor's house Bryan asked her if she ate a burger or a hot dog at the party.  She went silent in that way that instantly told us that she had neither.  So Bryan rephrased his question and asked her what specifically she ate.  She fared slightly better than her sister.  She ate chips, tostitos, soft pretzels, fruit from the fruit tray, and cookie cake.  She also didn't complain of hunger at any point in time.  In fact, she could barely eat the pizza we ordered for dinner.

So there you have it.  Bryan and I have the poor habit of remembering to feed our children when we throw parties.  We go out of our way to make sure all of our guest have been fed, but we totally forget to feed the kids.  We will now await the letter that awards us the parents of the year award for teaching our children how to be self-reliant.

In the future I'll consider asking my children during the party if they would like to eat something more substantial than chips.