Educating Risa

Yesterday the boys and I did the big grocery shop for the week. The boys have become quite helpful at the store, and enjoy picking out a treat or two—both healthy and non-healthy. Sure, Gareth (age 5) asked for more Corn Pops, but he also requested broccoli. I can live with that.

But it’s Daegan, who is going on 8, that I am most surprised by. As a younger child Daegan was extremely resistant to change or trying new things—something I can sympathize with, actually, as my “wiring” leans in a similar direction. But something changed about a year ago. The child who didn’t want to try drama classes (which he ended up loving), and who I thought at one point during his toddler years was going to live on nothing but noodles, is suddenly wanting to try new things. A lot. Practically ALL THE TIME. He wants to learn to play different instruments, try new classes, travel all over the world, and even EAT NEW FOODS. At the one grocery store we go to which carries a wide variety of produce, Daegan has picked a new fruit to try almost every week. This week it was the pummelo, the ancestor of the grapefruit.

We weren’t sure how to eat it, so I ended up cutting it like I do a pink grapefruit, which Daegan also enjoys. He thought it was quite good, and found it to be “like a cross between a grapefruit and a lemon.”

So there’s some proof for those of you dealing with younger kids that some things are simply developmental. We kept offering new foods and experiences, and even pushed once or twice (I pushed with drama as I very strongly believed it would suit his high energy, wiggly, playful, non-competitive personality….and I was right), and did our best to model being open to new things ourselves. And when Daegan was ready and felt safe to choose new things, he did so. Let’s hope his younger brother, firmly mired in the “Ick! That’s new! I won’t like it!” stage follows suit.

Oh, and it should go without saying, when one of my kids finds a new healthy food in the store and says “Can we buy this and try one?”, I don’t even look at the price. I just pop it into the cart. And later turn it into a homeschool activity—Shall we look up where it grows? Let’s find that on the map. And I wonder what it’s related to? And how you cook or serve it…