Frozen
London, Ontario, August 2006 [Click to dig in]
Our children, bless them, have embraced the bone-chilling weather that we've been experiencing of late. When you wake up in the morning to frenzied radio announcers talking about the dangerous wind chill, it's easy to feel bummed about the whole living-in-a-wintry-climate thing. But then you wander into the kids' rooms and find them eagerly looking out the window, bouncing up and down as they count the minutes until they can go outside and enjoy the frozen landscape.
It's inspiring, actually, all the more so because I'm really not a morning person.
So when they ask for ice cream, it's easy to forgive their apparent seasonal disconnect. Little man's logic is rather sound:
Noah: Dad, can we please eat some ice cream?Thanks to our children's wisdom, we went to the local Loblaws and bought President's Choice Cookies & Cream ice cream. It is, in a word, delicious. I would have it for breakfast if I could. (Wait, I did!)
Me: But it's minus a bazillion degrees outside. Wouldn't you rather have something warm?
Noah: It's only cold outside the house, not inside.
Me: Makes sense to me. I'll get two spoons, then.
In the end, I know it looks odd to the outsider. But on a cold weekend's afternoon, this very simple decision made our children happy. And I'm sure they'll long remember us allowing them to have ice cream when the temperature outside suggested a somewhat more sober dining choice. Sometimes, the obvious parental choice need not be the most conventional one.
Your turn: Kids, their strange culinary choices, and the parents who allow it to happen. Please discuss.
About the picture: This is a closeup of grape ice cream (seriously!) that I captured last summer. It comes from a delightfully independent local ice cream maker, and reinforces my belief that the franchised chains haven't totally killed off homegrown uniqueness and spunk.
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21 comments:
Wahh...I miss my childhood life.
Obama runs for president
My kids love cucumbers, sliced & eaten straight from the garden but oddly enough they insist on dipping them in vinegar & eating them with the straight vinegar (& some salt & pepper occasionally) ugh! just the thought of the straight, plain white vinegar gives me a shiver!
Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier.
We should listen to the wisdom of children more often.....
Doesn't snowman building sound WAY better than work??
Becky68 - lots of Brits eat salad stuff with plain vinegar and salt and pepper; I don't have that taste myself.
It's 11pm here, Carmi, and I don't have any ice cream in the house ....waaaaaaaaaaahhhh
cq
Michele sent me to see you, my friend.
yummmmmmy...grape ice cream...I WANT.
I feed my kids popsicles year round...and ice cream too. It's not in the minus degrees here, but cold enough to use that logic on my mind.
Strange culinary choices? Well both my kids dipped strange foods into ketchup. My daughter liked carrots and tomatoes dipped in ketchup. My son liked GRAPES dipped in ketchup. He has developed a tomato allergy so he no longer gets ketchup, though.
Carrots and ranch dressing... we thought for sure Seb would never go for this combo. Tnen last summer his aunt in Toronto suggested "Ranch" to encourage Seb to eat his salad. It worked!
I have never understand the taste appeal of what we call "long yoghurt" or also known as GoGurt... the yoghurt in the long tubes. GROSS!
I miss my childhood...my mum would always give in to my odd requests. Like gravey on pancakes, surprisingly good though! I've never heard of grape ice cream, sounds good though. :)
ice cream like ice tea is to be enjoyed year around! Or if the snow is real fresh--make snowcream out of maple syrup, vanilla and cream. That's one of my daughter's favorites
Didn't Bill Cosby address this very issue in his "Dad is great.....gives us some chocolate cake!" routine? :) If you haven't heard it, you need to. Funny stuff.
As my mom says: "It takes so little to make kids happy!" Sometimes we get into automatic "no" mode! So a little ice cream for breakfast every now and then is good for the soul.
Just don't let my kids read this.
When I first looked at the pic I thought it was fiberglass insulation....LOL
WOW!! that looks cold. Good for the kids embracing it. It would just make me grumpy.
My fave flavor of ice cream is Cherry Choc. Chip, by Edy's.
Great photo!
Michele says hello again.
~S
Awww, what a cool daddy!
I like to give my kids the unexpected sometimes, too. We went to a buffet at the Sheraton recently, it was 3 rooms, yes 3, of food. One was dessert alone! The kids jokingly said that they wished they could start with dessert, because there was so much good food, there was no way they'd have room for all that AND dessert.
So I said, "Then you better start with the chocolate silk pie then. :)
Let's see, weird foods? How about grilled cheese sandwiches dipped in their grandmas homemade peach jam.......or.... pizza, any kind..with ranch or thousand island dressing to dip it in. Eewww!
Very evocative, reminds me so much of when my children were little. The look of absolute pleasure as my youngest savoured the taste of chocolate. His eyes closed as the chocolate melted in his mouth. His sweet cherubic face under a mass of golden curls in sublime enjoyment a smile at the edges of his mouth mingled with a dribble of melted chocolate, his food heaven.
We have a family policy that goes like this: you (addressed to a kid) can combine any food or make any combination of foods provided you eat it ALL. Like you can have pickles on your jam and butter bread. Or have sausages into the icecream.
Made it? Eat it.
We stick to the rule and so do they. It makes life MUCH easier.
Hi Carmi! Michele didn't send me - a run through my favorite links did! You're statement about the independant ice-cream guy made me think - if you ever get the chance to go to the Twin Cities, please be sure to look up Izzy's Ice Cream in St. Paul. It won the "best ice cream in the united states" in 2006. You will love it!
Hmm, interesting kids choices. Well, my kid is pretty straight forward and hasn't really gone for any odd combos. Except one: When we go to McDonald's, she always wants the chicken nuggets and to dip it, she wants the caramel sauce that they offer for the apples. No one in the family is willing to try it with her, but she swears it is wonderful. Chicken and caramel. right.
Great texture in that photo. I love good ice cream and will happily eat it in the winter too :-)
I think if they enjoy it and it makes them happy without doing them harm then why not let them eat what they want (within the boundaries of health of course!).
Michele sent me so that I could sit here and fancy a bowl of ice cream too!
hey roundtable - you are a 'bot! so you forgot to read the post enough to know that we were talking about ice cream. please put your political ads on your own blog and not a respectable place like written inc.
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spammer!
jeez I get worked up about this stuff!
here is my actual response.
my son ate worms, i tried to be cool, because it was free protein.
he makes better choices now, but if he is ever stranded in the wild, he will find something to eat.
he is a great kid ( 19)
you can publish both, or just this one
When my granddaughter was a preschooler, we would mix fresh snow, with a little maple syrup, on the mornings where it was "minus a bazillion degrees outside", lol!
She loved it, and as a grandmother, I will give her anything! Ice Cream for breakfast sounds just the thing for a celebratory morning!
The photo does look like a Lunar landscape...very rugged! Great choice!
Thanks for the reminder to listen...just, listen...our kids have things to tell us that, when we respond with knee-jerk reactions (e.g., "You don't eat ice cream when it's freezing cold outside!"), should just make us stop and ask ourselves, "Now why did I say that?"
Ice cream. It's not just for breakfast anymore.
And the pic? Could be a frozen waterfall, eh? ;)
There are times when you cannot refute children's logic. :) Its simplicity is something to learn from. Awesome macro shot!
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