Reading While Eating
A story about a tricky and somewhat sticky parenting choice.
Today she wanted to read at breakfast.
And as a parent, I am torn here.
Option 1: NO way - we only eat at the table. NO FOOD MUST BE NEAR BOOKS. Librarians everywhere are shocked that this is even an option.
Option 2: Screw it - if she wants to read at breakfast and she spills cheerios over the school library book then I will send a note to the school and wait for the bill in the mail.
Both options are not really optimal, but I’ll tell you what I did:
I let her read at the table at breakfast. This should come as no surprise because the child has me wrapped around her finger and what the princess wants, the princess gets. But wait - before all you option one folks get out the pitchforks let me explain:
Between pages we had “bite breaks”: read a page - take a bite. Rinse and repeat, and this served us well - we got the book read in time, dressed in time and most importantly - on the bus on time.
I’m thinking this is a good compromise and when she’s older she won’t have flashbacks about being yelled at about reading at the table. I love reading and eating. It was books when I was younger and then newspapers and magazines and now it’s just the phone, and by writing this out I realized that this is another thing that got shittier with the current online state. I miss magazines - for the articles, of course.
Anyway… I let her read a book this morning while chomping on Cheerios.
All you bento-box preparing parents with the children with the clean clothes and matching socks are probably terrified reading this but around here - - that’s how we roll.
Fun Fact! This is the book we read. Cheerios not included. Some cleanup required afterwards.
Keeping on chewing and learning,
TH and Co.