Sunday, May 15, 2005

Snack Magic

Snack magic

My five year old daughter and I had a big day planned yesterday, including some beach/sandcastle-building time, the Santa Monica fair, and a movie... Within all that, I knew it had the potential of being a day long fight to avoid junk food vendors. So I decided to make a preemptive strike. As she climbed into the car I challenged her to guess the "celebrity snack of the day". I gave her some hints... "they grow in the ground"... "they are really good for your eyes and might even give you xray vision"... "they're the choice of celebrity rabbits like Bugs Bunny, Roger Rabbit, and even the Easter Bunny himself"...

"CARROTS!" She guessed

No, not just carrots... Mini carrots!

Long story short, she ate this bag of carrots all day, from point-a to point-b... Emptied it. No prodding, no begging. The concept of them being special, and available all day trumped the urge to "think of a snack" if she got hungry.

Likewise, we continued the game of imagining who would eat carrots. Horses, Mickey Mouse, Britney Spears... I was selling. But when the day ended and I realized Ava had not ramped up into a single sugar high for the day, it seemed like the plan worked.


So Sunday, I am thinking of dedicating the day to the "amazing case of the disappearing Cherry Tomatoes".

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