Cogitations on Food

  There is a series of mystery books written by Rex Stout about a fictional detective named Nero Wolfe. The books were written for literally decades and then a new writer started writing them, so there have been Nero Wolfe's written off and on since the 1930's!

  Wolfe is an extremely eccentric, very overweight detective who loves orchids and food, and hates work and leaving his house. The books are written from the first person perspective of Archie Goodwin, Wolfe's trusty assistant who runs around collecting the clues to take home to Wolfe, who is a genius and figures out the mystery.

  A series of TV movies were made based on Stout mysteries and Kevin and I purchased the whole set. They are mostly very funny and lighthearted. (I should add there are some adult themes in the books and movies so I wouldn't just let a child watch all of them.)

  One of the recurring characters is Fritz, Wolfe's gourmet cook. Wolfe eats all the time and eats well, and Fritz is a foreign cook who spends most of his time in the kitchen whipping up delicacies.

  Usually when we watch a show, I whisper to Kevin, "I want a Fritz!"

  Because wow, having someone to COOK around here would be awesome!

  Well, I do have people that cook. I cook. Kevin cooks.  Kevin is doing a cooking class with our 2 older girls and THEY cook. They cook WAY better than I did at their age.  Ok, honest truth. I could hardly cook when I got MARRIED at age 27.  I've learned.

 Switching gears, there was a Facebook post from a friend who lives in Michigan whom I admire.  She is (in every good way) a health food nut.  She posted a picture of a child smoking a cigarette, along with a paragraph on the lines of "Yes, this is a horrifying image but WHY do so many parents give their kids refined sugar when it is more addictive than cocaine and just as bad as smoking."

  The paragraph was a forward so she didn't actually write those words.  I didn't delve into the whole "more addictive than cocaine" thing because that seems unlikely and I just want to focus on the main message, which is that lots of sugar is bad and parents shouldn't let their kids eat much of it.

 Well, let me talk about WHY good, caring, loving parents give their kids quite a bit of sugar.  Because I am a good, loving, caring mother who feeds her kids sugary breakfast cereal and lets them eat candy and cookies.

  Time.  It is All.  About.  Time.

  We have a money budget and the reality is that I have a time budget as well.

  9 kids. Homeschooling the older 6.  Nursing a baby.  Keeping a toddler from harming himself.  Dealing with a cranky 4 year old.  Staying emotionally connected to my husband and kids.  Running errands.  Dealing with paperwork.   Grading.  Preparing.  Working a few hours a week.

That is the reality.  Do I feel really good about the fact that my kids eat sugary cereal?  Well, I don't.  But when I think about the various options in my life, I am not finding the time to change our breakfast habits such that we never eat sugary cereal.  I COULD do it, but I'd have to drop something else.

 Lots of people say and believe that food is more important than almost anything in the sense that it has a huge effect on our health.  I agree it is really important. But the reality is that while we can keep cigarettes and cocaine out of the house, we do need to eat early and often around here.  The kids need fed!  And sometimes sugary cereal is what works. Now as I've recovered from Rose's birth, I am finding time to do different things SOME days.  We occasionally have muffins, fruit, french toast, and oatmeal. But often, we have sugary cereal.

I tend to be an all or nothing person but as I've gotten older, I have realized more and more that sometimes life will not be perfect in some area.  We have to give up our ideals at times (in non moral areas) because we don't have enough time or energy or money to do something "right".

So for now, I'm going to reluctantly keep serving such cereals some days.  Maybe as the kids get older and I am not so busy with the baby, and we have more cooks and bakers, we can improve breakfast even more.

A quick caveat -- I know that  obesity in kids is a serious issue and if our kids were dangerously overweight, we'd make necessary drastic changes.  We've spawned a race of skinny kids.  Almost all are on the thin side of normal.  We also avoid fast food most of the time and eat moderately healthy lunches and dinners most days.  I think we are doing ...Ok, where food is concerned.  We could be doing better.  I pray that with time we WILL do better. But I'm also not going to wrap myself in guilt because we're not eating as healthily as would be ideal.