Guess we're not so "weird" afterall!

[Rawkinlocs]

So my son's friend and my daughter's friend's lil' brother were over visiting my son today. The older kid says "Wow, you guys got a lot of fruit in your house...I wish MY mom would buy more fruit". The little kid was facinated as well and was like, "You got ORANGES? Can I have an orange? You got CHERRIES? Can I have some cherries?"

That made me feel really good and of course, I shared our fruit with them! :D But I also felt kinda bad for them seeing that they must not get much of this good stuff at home :(

[rome]

my son got so suprised at the amount of fruit I've started buying , that he lined it all up on the bench and counted it and then tried fitting it all in the fruit basket. I'm glad he loves fruit. :)

[lissomllama]

I totally hear ya, rawkinlocs! I was actually going to make a post about something similar but this is in the vein. I was recently over at a friends' house for a few hours and they had absolutely no fruit or vegetables of any kind in the house and it sounded like this is the norm and it just shocked me, I mean, even when someone is not raw, they need fruits and veggies and this has become so far removed from peoples' minds that it is scary. Children are growing up in a way that makes them surprised to see an orange and that is just wrong.

[juliebove]

I found this to be true when I lived in CA. People always invited me over for dinner or lunch, knowing that I'd bring a raw veggie platter. And not your typical kind that you get from the caterer. I was always looking for unique vegetables or unusual varieties. I was living in military housing then and I think a lot of my neighbors couldn't afford to buy much fresh produce. It was so much cheaper to serve stuff like Ramen noodles and fried rice. The kids always loved the veggies.

After a while it got to where I'd feed a bunch of kids dinner outside every night. There was a little picnic table down there and we always had the usual bunch, but other kids would be walking by and stop to see what we had. I'd wind up feeding them too. I didn't mind. I'm a real veggie pusher.

I remember being shocked when my daughter's friend got punished for eating a whole bag of baby carrots. She had asked if she could have some too. And she appeared to be very hungry. The mom didn't cook very often. Seemed like they were always sending out for pizza or she'd open a can of something and plop it cold, into bowls. I would never punish my daughter for eating something healthy, even if she did eat a ton of it.

[Dandelion Girl]

I know what you mean. I teach special ed and I always bring fruit for snack and the kids love it. One asked me to bring those little ball things again (grapes). How sad that he didn't even know the name. And he was at a high enough level that he would have known it if they had them at home. The same little boy loved my green smoothies. He started going home and asking his mom if he could have some of that spinach stuff. I told her about them and she said she bought a food processor to make them for him. Hope she followed through with it. All the kids seem to like the fruit better than the snacks they usually get. All the ones that would try my green smoothies liked them too. When I brought fruit and was making a fruit plate for a potluck, they kept wanting to eat the fruit. My aide said if they kept eating fruit, they wouldn't want the pizza for lunch. Sounds like a good thing to me. It is really sad that they don't get fruit at home when they love it so much. Also sad that there is a rule that they have to take milk with their lunch even if they don't want it.

[swingbolder]

Yes, children and fruit are a natural pairing!

When we first moved into our neighborhood and my son first met the kids on our block, all the kids would play in our yard. When they'd get too hot, they'd come inside for some water, and would see the fruit hanging in baskets in the kitchen, and would always ask for some. It got so bad I had to start rationing it, bc they'd keep coming in for seconds and thirds and sometimes I wouldn't have enough for everyone (let alone myself!)

Sometimes they would come by even when my son wasn't home just to get a piece of fruit! One of these girls came over once while I was making smoothies and asked if she could help. She became so enamored of smoothies that I ended up giving her my old Oster blender as a going-away present (she was spending the summer down south with relatives). When she came back in the fall she told me about all the smoothies she had made over the summer! :D

[kmik]

I was very fortunate as a kid... even though my mom made really gross things like kidneys, liver and ox-tail soup... she always made sure we had fresh fruit, and urged us kids to eat it.

Even now when she comes over to visit, she'll cut up some fruit for my kids, just to make sure they're eating it :D (Thank God she's trying to be raw, and no longer wastes her time with ox-tail soup!)

[Lay-Lay]

When my mom was pregnant with me she had read about how bad sugar was for children....sooooo I never had any sweets or sugar until I was probally 6 yrs (except the sugar my grandparents sneeked to me behind my moms back). Then she allowed me to have fruit. Before that I was all about vegetables. I love my veggie's and my fruit and always have. I could care less about SAD sweets or SAD cooked vegetables.

[greeninlosangeles]

I think I need to thank my dad and our garden for the love to veggies and fruits I always had and now they are all I eat. Parents do mean a lot for the quality of our lives, more than we care to admit. We can change, but that is slow and painful, if we don't have good roots. So I understand, that I will need to work on emotional issues, which my parents were not so good at, and it will be a grueling work for 2 years or more, but the raward will be good not just for me, but for my kids too!

[Coriander74]

I was very fortunate as a kid... even though my mom made really gross things like kidneys, liver and ox-tail soup... she always made sure we had fresh fruit, and urged us kids to eat it.

Even now when she comes over to visit, she'll cut up some fruit for my kids, just to make sure they're eating it :D (Thank God she's trying to be raw, and no longer wastes her time with ox-tail soup!)

LOL!!!! We ALWAYS had fresh fruits and veggies in the house, didn't mean I would eat them, but the smell of the liver and onions :eek: The stuff would stink up the house for a week!