Don't Play With Your Food!

My Dad taught my sisters and I how to play vacuum with our jello and properly eat an Oreo cookie. I remember the fun of slowly twisting open the cookies and licking the icing, enjoying each lick to its fullest. I wasn't much for dunking, but that is the proper way to finish them off -- or so I've been told. But the most fun was when Mom would say something like, "Gordon, don't teach the girls to play with their food!" It was one of Mom's biggest pet peeves. I could never understand why Mom didn't just stop her fussing and join in! Grown-ups, go figure!

Well, that was until I had kids! Keith says I'm a hypocrite, but I say I'm just being a Mom. Seriously, who has to clean up the soggy licked cookies that nobody wants to eat? Mom! Not to mention the glasses of warm, soggy cookie crumb milk. (Well, okay, Keith does do most of the dishes.) Who has to wash the table all sticky with dropped jello? Mom! Who has to try and get the stains out of the clothes? Mom! What about the spilled glasses? The chocolate covered toddlers? The wasted food? You guessed it... MOM! Now I can fully appreciate and understand my Mother. Although, I still thank my Dad for teaching me how to eat an Oreo, I just make sure the kids aren't looking! (By-the-way, Canadian Oreo Cookies are far superior to their cousins to the south. American Oreo cookies taste like lard and leave a nasty film on your tongue. It makes me homesick just thinking about it!)

This all came to my mind when Jerry called out from the other room, "Hey, Mom! Did you know Jello Jigglers can stick to windows?" Keith keeps telling me that if I don't want them to play with their food; that I shouldn't give them fun food. Yet, if I didn't; how could we fulfill our traditional family roles? -- Dad teaching kids to slurp and dunk, kids playing with their food, and Mom saying with hands on hips, "DON'T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!!!"

Have a great day. If you live in Canada enjoy your Oreo cookies! God bless. Keep on a prayin'!