Snacks Before Dinner

When I was a kid, my mother never let us have snacks before dinner.  Dinner was promptly at 5:15, but on days when there was no more than a glass of milk after school, it was a misery.  Now I know that what made that wait so difficult was my low blood sugar.  I felt jittery, sweaty, and I couldn't think clearly enough to add 2+2. 

So, even though it's hard to make a snack before dinner while I'm trying to make dinner, I try to say yes to Nick when he has the same problem.  And he does have the same problem.  His first grade teacher, an inexperienced woman with no patience, used to feed him a junky snack at 10:00am and complain that at 11:30, he wasn't focused on his work.  I'd been putting some jerky in his lunchbox just for that purpose, but she wouldn't let him get it.  Then, she chided him in front of the class that he had too much in his lunch and he came home crying because I needed to change what I made for him. (She is also one of those teachers who doesn't let kids go to the bathroom when they need to.  The problem with that is that she gets mad at the kids when they have an accident.) Once we figured out Nick's problem with sugar, we got a doctor to write a letter to the school nurse who forced the teacher to give Nick his protein snack.   Thankfully, Nick has had thoughtful and patient teachers for the next three years. 

It really is hard to make dinner and a snack at the same time.  Tonight, I was working on chicken parmesan when Nick made his usual call from the living room. 

"I'm hungry, Mom," he yelled.

"Why don't you get something to eat," I yelled back.  "I'm working on dinner.  It should be done soon."  When Nick isn't too far gone, this works, but he was too far gone and wouldn't come look for himself.

'Here's my chance,' I thought.  I put the chicken down and washed my hands.  Then, I looked into the fridge and started listing some foods he could eat, the healthy and mostly quick foods: a salad, carrots, Brussels sprouts, Rainier cherries, blueberries, a banana, or cheese curds.  I recited the list to him.

"Can I have Brussels sprouts, cherries, and a banana with sun butter?" he asked. 

"Any chance you can wash the cherries while I put sun butter on your banana?" I asked him.  He washed the cherries.  I guess I was pushing my limits when I asked him to trim the Brussels sprouts.  Yup, pushing the limit.  He was ready to cry, too hungry to add 2+2. 

"You go eat your banana and your cherries, okay?" I said. I put the Brussels sprouts on to steam.  They were seasoned and eaten within ten minutes.  The chicken parmesan was done in forty-five minutes.  Mike noticed that Nick didn't eat much dinner, but didn't say anything to me until after Nick went to bed.  I told him about the Brussels sprouts, cherries, and banana with sun butter.

"That explains a lot," he said and went back to reading his book.

Thank you for listening, jb