The Long Awaited Post: Nourishment-- Courtesy of the Children

I have to admit it: That's one clean kitchen counter!

In a recent post I mentioned that J and I quit for a week. By quit, I mean that we left the boys to their own devices when it came to not only providing themselves with nutrition and nourishment, but us as well.

The complaining over supper time had just become too much. I went on strike. Which wasn’t all that impressive since I rarely cook, so I convinced J to go on strike as well (much more impressive), despite the fact that he thought this was the worst idea in the history of all ideas in the world. Ever. He was afraid we would starve, or worse yet: be forced to subsist on cereal and toast alone.

He went out of his way to buy the makings for the first cheesecake during this time, just to offset the horrors he expected at dinner. I think this is the rough equivalent of strike pay. Yea for collective bargaining!

We put the boys in charge of all aspects of meal preparation: meal planning, shopping, cooking and cleaning. We also went out of our way to make things difficult for them: we planned this week for a week where they both had things to be done after school. K had a major group project for school requiring attention in the evenings after school. Ant had school events. J was working late several nights in a row.

Also, we complained. A lot. Although our level of complaints is nothing in comparison to what the kids can dish out. This is usually due to the fact that I break into giggles while being deceptive.

Now you know my tell.

Meal planning was interesting—as the boys had a hard time deciding what would or would not be served for dinner during the week. K wanted to try his hand at making J’s famous homemade mac and cheese. Ant wanted chips with every meal. Neither ended up with these options, and J and I did not even need to intervene; they regulated themselves. Once they had a plan for the week’s meals, it was time to hit the grocery store.

Let me just say now that we didn’t help with the list. We wanted them to fail in some regards—mainly in those that would not involve kitchen fires. So, even if that list was missing something (and it was), we did not interfere. 

Grocery shopping was a riot! We let them take the lead, and there was not a single thing placed in that cart by J or myself. They had a budget, and they failed to stay within that budget, miserably. Since we shopped on the weekend, I know that my kids running around the store like crazy persons was a bit much for other people, but there were at least four other mothers that saw what we were doing, comprehended, and then grinned at us! THAT was the some of the best, reassuring support I’ve ever received as a parent. The cashier was patient with them while they had to put stuff back.

Unloading was less fun than originally anticipated.

J was keeping the Nana up to speed on our little experiment via text, and frankly, he did not get the commiseration he was longing for. Neither did the boys.

While we did not end up with any candy, soda, or chips—we did end up with four boxes of pop-tarts and three boxes of mac and cheese. Which they planned to cook all at once. To make up for the fact that K does not, in fact, know how to make a roux. And pizza. We ended up with pizza as well.

The first night they did tacos, and everything went well. It was Sunday night, however, and the success they had on Sunday made them grossly underestimate how difficult it can be to cook dinner on weeknights. That was fun. By Tuesday night they were exhausted and fighting over who would do what, and frankly, trying to buy enough time to see if J or myself would get up and cook the dinner for them. We didn’t. We sat on the couch, eating Cheez-its (also seemed to make their way home) watching them, and tweeting about it. They put dinner on the table about an hour and a half late that night.

We need to buy Tetris, so they can work on that skill.

The upside to all of this was the cleanup went exceptionally well. Whereas, those boys would fight like cats and dogs over if we were having pancakes for dinner that night, when it came down to loading the dishwasher, it was 100% team effort and efficiency.

By Thursday we had complete and total melt-down on the cooking front. I picked Ant up from school, and he burst into tears, begging me not to make him make dinner that night. K promised that he would never complain about the food put in front of him ever again (and he is my picky eater). I had a dinner date with a friend that night, and although none of the guys will admit it, I am fairly certain that J ended up making the Chinese food that night.

Keep that in mind—he always caves to those boys!

By Friday we were done. We took them out to a restaurant, because it had been a red letter week for me, and they were so appreciative of eating something that someone else had cooked.

There are a few good things that came out of this bland, stomach-rumbling, somewhat mal-nutritious and stressful week: The boys have not once complained about supper since then. I am not quizzed down each night upon entering the door about what’s for dinner. They do not complain when I ask them to set or clear the table. They each decided at the store last weekend to only ask for one extra thing apiece—and made a game of whose snack item selection was cheaper.

And when I asked K to fire up the panini maker this evening and make dinner for all of us—there was nary a comment!