Ramen in a happy environment is better than four dishes and a dessert in anger and sorrow.

(on Always Learning, 2006)

Proverbs 15:17 🙂

(Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.)

(Proverbs 15:17, KJV)

Schuyler Waynforth, quoted on Facebook in July 2012:

Candy fed with love beats the heck out of broccoli eaten out of fear.

BetteAnne Camagna quoted a different verse from Proverbs, on April 2013:

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

(Proverbs 17:1, NIV)

Twinkies and a Red Bull are probably healthier than being nagged is.

Gaffer Swanthold speaks truth when he saith, "Better a crust with content than honey with a sour heart."

(Chapter XVI: Little John Turns Barefoot Friar)

"Americans are consumed with worry and anxiety, fearing fried eggs as death-in-a-skillet and obsessing over fat-free treats. Compared to the Japanese, the French and the Belgians, Rozin found, Americans worry most about food but are least likely to call themselves "healthy eaters." He hypothesizes that losing touch with the hardwired pleasure of eating may itself be bad for our health. In the United States, "one of the most pleasant of human activities has become drenched in worry," he argues."

**********
carelia ~ C. Norton
Mom to Katherine (18), Christopher (15) and Aaron (7)

I was once talking to an old friend I hadn't seen in years. She was explaining that she didn't allow her daughter (who was about 6) any sugar. She told me a story about her daughter being at a friend's house and how the friend's mother gave the little girl an ice cream sandwich even though she knew my friend didn't allow her to have sugar.

The little girl was standing right there listening to the story. When she heard the ice cream sandwich mentioned, her face just lit up. She looked at me and started describing the ice cream, how it tasted, what it felt like in her mouth, how it dripped and melted and how dirty her face got and how sweet it was etc... etc... I have never seen anything like it. That child probably still remembers that ice cream sandwich to this day.

My friend then returned to her story about how annoyed she was that this woman gave her sugar.

(lalow, 4/30/10)

Joyfully health-filled "It's often more helpful to kids when parents step back from focusing on the kids' health and focus on their own. Focus on being joyfully health-filled rather than grimly health conscious." —Meredith Novak SandraDodd.com/meredithnovak the quote is from the middle of this Always Learning post photo by Sandra Dodd

About the problem of a parent giving a choice, but not a real, honest choice, from a facebook discussion in April 2013:

It creates a trap, a trick question, an adversarial relationship, an opportunity for failure, if there is "a right answer" to the question "What do you want to eat?" Or if an overjoyed "can I have some ice cream?" is met with a sigh, and eyes rolling, and another sigh, and a dirty look, and a summary of what the child has already eaten that day, and a reminder of when the next meal is, and a head shake, and a mention of ingredients... or even ONE of those, it taints the ice cream. It harms the relationship. It makes the child smaller. It does not, correspondingly, though, make the parent larger.

—Sandra Dodd

"The body is extremely sensitive to stress—and that most certainly includes the stress of a hyperactive desire to eat perfectly."

Little meals make big memories Some days lunch is medicinal—one child is sickly and could use soup or juice. One is off to a sports event, and carbohydrates are a good idea. One is sad, and would like comfort food. One is bored, and her sandwich could use a face. Be as loose as a dancer, as variable as an actor, as thoughtful as a chessplayer, when you decide what to make for lunch sometimes!