Thursday, December 11, 2008

Mission Accomplished

My dad grew up in the 1950's. I love hearing stories of his childhood and thankfully Dad still enjoys telling them. Story has it when he was a boy he had to eat a hot breakfast every morning. Be it oatmeal, malt o meal or cream of wheat; it did not matter as long as he ate something hot to "stick to his gut."
My first thought of that was, 'that so would not fly today.' If I told my kids hey you must eat a hot breakfast everyday and no waffles or toast would not cut it. I envisioned fits and complaints. Which then turned my thinking to how spoiled American kids are (mine included!) I thought of other cultures and nations who gladly eat their grains plain, thankful to have a meal. I thought of the poor and impoverished, the homeless, those who would be happy for a hot meal. And I thought that I needed to change my kids thinking about breakfast.
So a few weeks ago I decided that we were going to eat oatmeal(unprocessed) at least once a week (preferably more) for breakfast. That first morning I dished up a half serving of oatmeal (1/4cup) and laid out some toppings on the table. They gladly garnished the oatmeal with dried fruits and honey. Then they took the first bite. Total looks of disgust. They were completely unimpressed. They ate a few bites, begrudgingly. I am sure they whined, most likely complained. Needless to say that first day they did not finish their bowls.
I was undeterred. If anything more persistent in the fact that things needed to change.
So a few days later it was oatmeal again. This time I put about 2 tablespoons into their bowls. With the challenge that if they ate that they could chose something else to eat if they were still hungry. With thoughts of chocolate covered waffles they got through the oatmeal. Probably more honey than oatmeal but they ate it.
Week two: I upped the amount a tiny bit.
Week three: They discovered brown sugar.
Week four: They happily eat the oatmeal with no complaint and don't need the waffle afterward.

I would say: "Mission Accomplished!"

Hey Dad, bring on some more stories. I have some children to raise.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ohhhh ..... This one sooooooooooo made me smile

Mindy Richmond said...

I love my oatmeal - plain with a little bit of half and half and brown sugar. YUMM!

Marcy said...

I'm a huge fan of steel cut oats. Try cooking it with a little vanilla and once it is almost done add some dried cherries...it's AMAZING! Worth the 40 minutes or so it takes to make.

Kellie said...

I so miss you. I love this post it has the heart of you all over it. You are a caring person and you desire to pass that on to your kids. Love you.

We make oatmeal full of shtuff.

Apples chopped tiny cinnamon nutmeg ginger pecans (not for A2) rasins. All tossed in as it is cooking to get the apples all squishy. So sweet we don't even have to use any other sweeteners anymore. But it dose take about 30 min to make.

Thanks.

Unknown said...

Sarah I made oatmeal in my slow cooker! one cup steel cut oats, 4 cups water, 1/2 cup or so of dried fruits. put on low overnight. in the morning serve as is or add 1/4 cup powdered milk to make extra creamy. I call this "porridge" so the kids don't think I'm talking about instant quaker oats.

Use a liner in your slow cooker, cause it can be a bear to clean out :)