A Mommy Story

There was a time when Aaron and I could have entire conversations about things around Cordy without her knowing. We’d just have to S-P-E-L-L out the word we didn’t want her to hear and/or repeat, like C-O-O-K-I-E or I-C-E-C-R-E-A-M or the ever popular W-I-N-E.

Problem is, she’s been watching Word World and Sesame Street and Super Why, all of which are encouraging her to spell. And one in particular (I’m looking at you, Word World, with your obsessive, sweets-loving Pig) teaches kids how to spell cookie.

Do you know how hard it is to talk about cookies without being able to say or now spell cookie? We can’t even use a food code word, like lettuce, because the kid likes lettuce and nearly every other food we mention. And it’s just too weird to say to your spouse, “Hey, when you’re at the grocery, can you pick up some….uh…uhm… socks? You know, the…uhm… socks with the brown spots – one might say “chunks”- in them?”

We try to give our daughters healthy snacks, and save the sweet treats for special occasions. They normally have snacks like bananas, apple slices, fruit and cereal bars, goldfish crackers, homemade applesauce (from my mom’s apple trees) and yogurt.

But hiding in one of the cabinets, on the tippy-top shelf, are the secret goodies – cookies, candy, and those little Betty Crocker molten lava cakes that you make in the microwave in 30 seconds. Hiding in the deep freezer is the ice cream that Aaron and I love – ice cream that doesn’t exist to our children and if they ask about it we will deny-deny-deny.

It’s a little ironic that we care so much about our daughters’ eating habits, and then pull out the naughty snacks when they go to bed.

Do you have mommy/daddy snacks that you hide from the kids?

(Wine doesn’t count.)

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Brothers-All-Natural.