Coping with Prosperity

I put a pile of goldfish in front of my little one, hoping to get enough time to load the dishwasher. Instead, I find myself two minutes later sweeping a pile on the floor. I’ve found that it’s more effective to give her two at a time, even though it means walking back and forth across the kitchen. We say in our house that kids can’t deal with prosperity. Put them in a room full of toys and they’re bored. Put them in an empty room with one toy and they can keep themselves busy indefinitely. Now why wouldn’t more fish keep her busy eating longer than two?

My theory is that it is a way of coping with prosperity. There is just too much everywhere. People ask, why are kids so different than in year’s past? Actually, I see a change in behavior in people of all ages. We’ve all had to go away from the finishing your plate idea because there’s just always too much on the plate! Kids turn their nose up at food because their bodies know they’ve had enough. Now they haven’t always had enough of the right stuff, but they’ve had enough calories to deal with for the moment.

But there is something that feels good about having a full plate. I keep a stack of two different size cups, one from a kids’ yogurt pack, the other from the Pringles single packs, and use them to serve snacks in. This way, the kids feel like I gave them something full, when I actually haven’t given them much at all…and I find I’m sweeping up a lot less.