Today was an emotional day for my nearly 4 year old. He didn’t get shoes, while his two big brothers did. I know, how traumatic for him. Is it child abuse [insert significant sarcasm] to drag a child into a shoe store to watch his big brothers get brand spankin’ new summer shoes, while he wears the chalk stained pair that were acquired last summer?
“Mommy, [snif snif, lip quivering] I want a new pair of shoes, too.” I plopped his whiny butt in a chair and said “if you are going to have a tantrum, you should at least make it a good one.” But he didn’t. It was annoying and whiny and never-ending. The lady who runs the shoe store overheard it and finally said, “you know, if you eat all your dinner and go to sleep when your mommy says you should, your feet will grow, and THEN you can get a new pair of shoes.”
Dinner was comprised of a stew that was too spicy for my kids (in hindsight, I should have not added as many peppers,) fruit and bread. The stew contained black beans, something this child has been allergic to. However, his allergist has advised us to push beans into his diet. This child, who typically eats almost nothing for dinner, says, “mom, if I eat all my dinner will my feet really grow?” And then he got weepy again.
Thanks lady.
I didn’t push it, since we don’t push eating at all in our house. Typically I would have only expected him to eat his bread and fruit; he isn’t very adventurous with food and the stew was not something he would normally try. But he wanted to eat it because he really wanted his feet to grow. I think he ate at least a bite because he said it was really spicy.
And then I noticed that his ears turned bright red. They are like our food allergy early alert system. I asked him if he ate one of the beans. He had said they “looked like jelly beans” earlier in the meal. He didn’t know if he had.
And then after dinner he threw up. I think he ate a bean. We won’t be pushing them anymore.
My poor boy will just have to live with his year-old sandals that are perfectly fine and fit great. And the lady at the shoe store needs to keep her advice about eating dinner to herself.
Snowflakes In January 