Thursday dinners are my least fave.

posted on: Thursday, December 2, 2010


On Thursdays I am alone with the kids till 7:30pm and then I teach class from 8:00-10:00pm. Today is the last day of this craziness. Next week is exam week and vacation is soon in sight.

Two Thursdays ago when I picked Christian up from his class with both kids in the car he asked what was for dinner. I told him I made quarter chicken dumpling soup using the chicken potstickers that were in the freezer and the mustard greens that he picked up without my consent and expected me to cook with. Just speakin' the truth.

"Cool" he said but why "quarter chicken dumpling soup?"
"Because, I paid Enzo a quarter to eat it" I sheepishly replied, "Don't judge me. I love you. Bye." and off I went to my class.

I was embarrassed even before the proposition to pay my son to eat dinner was verbalized. But, I put my shame in time out and said "Enzo, if you eat your dinner without whining I'll pay you a quarter." Quarters are a big deal in his 4 year old world. Usually If I ever give him money it's always a penny,  but quarters are bigger in size so they obviously have more value. 

Enzo has a train bank that is getting filled up and I don't know if you ever had a piggy bank but there is something deeply satisfying  when you drop a coin in a piggy bank. It  can become an addiction and soon Enzo is asking "do you have a penny for my train bank?" about 5 times a day for his coin fix. If I have a penny I just give it to him. I never bribe him with money even though I am often tempted. How awesome would it be if he asked me for a penny and I said "only if you clean up your toys" and then in a flash he would clean up his toys, change his sister's diapers, wash my dishes all for one lousy cent.

Is that some beautiful economics or what?!

But no, I don't do that. I'm a decent human being with values and bribing is not one of them unless...


it's one of those baby Maria-trying to take her pants off-every five seconds- day. Then on those days I let the kids watch a video on the computer while I make dinner and when I get to sit down for dinner the only real thing that sounds delicious is peace and quiet. 

On those days I may bribe Enzo with a quarter.

He agreed to the deal and ate all his soup without a single complaint, even though he made gagging faces after every bite. I just looked down on my plate half ignoring him and half ashamed to look at him. I can't believe I'm paying my son to eat dinner! Lousy. Simply lousy.

The next day I asked Enzo what he was planning to buy with all his pennies and his one quarter.
He looked at me as if I should already know the answer, in his mind it was clearly obvious,
"I'm going to buy flowers for you, of course, because you're my favorite mama"



32 comments:

  1. Awww....what can I say! Enzo is my little hero! What a sweet little boy...and you know what, its ok to bribe them sometimes...You are a great mom!
    Kisses and have a fantastic evening

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  2. you have the sweetest boy ever!! To buy you flowers with all his money.. sighh so cute!!

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  3. @Diana Mieczan he's my hero too. on a billion years when he grows up and gets married he will be an awesome husband.

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  4. what a sweetheart! you're a lucky mom.

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  5. That's hilarious, in a very understanding, mom-to-mom sympathetic way. ;)
    I have those sort of days almost every day! Rock on! This morning was a doozie! Oh well, it's almost time for a glass of wine.
    Don't feel so bad about bribing. I swore I would never bribe or bargain but I've thrown A LOT of my pre-4 kids rules out the window!

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  6. I confess, I did a little bribing too...but they turned out fine anyway! However, nobody bought me flowers. :(
    Lucky mom!

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  7. I love this post!!! It made me laugh and then it made me teary-eyed!! What a great little boy you have raised!! Those pictures are so adorable! What cute babies!!!

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  8. Flowers for you? I say bribe away, especially when all he wants to do is make you happy. Twice.
    And I can't imagine having to teach an 8-10pm class. My brain shuts down by 8:30pm; last night it turned off at about 7pm. It's clearly the end of the quarter.

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  9. The soup looks delicious! That's a good idea...I wonder how much my 10 year old would charge to eat his soup?!?!

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  10. Aww! I just melted! What a sweetheart!

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  11. Bless his little heart!! If his name wasn't awesome enough, he is an angel too! Oh, our sweet boys would get along so well. P.S. is it OK to bribe if it's not money?? ;)

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  12. Sounds like what my Baby boy would have done when he was younger but now that he's a teenager some other girl gets his quarter and pennies.

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  13. Wow, what a beautiful blog! Your pictures are amazing and I love how you share your life story of your children.

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  14. Hehe, oh dear, I can only imagine how it can be with two little kids at times! They are so gorgeous though ;-)

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  15. Yep. Count me in for melting. A lot. Also! I owe you a package! I was out of town for a couple of weeks for the holiday but there is a package coming your way soon! :) Also also... that soup looks delicious. I hope you saved me some. No quarter needed.

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  16. Don't feel bad about paying Enzo to eat dinner... afterall, tons of parents give their kids allowance for doing chores. Isn't that really the same thing?

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  17. Very funny, I see now problem with having to give your 4 year old a quarter to make your life a little more simple once in a while. The fact he was eating a home cooked meal is the important part. Love that he wanted to buy you flowers.

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  18. Aww your son is so sweet! That soup actually sounds really good, I'm inspired to make soup tonight!

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  19. @Healthy Mamma I only have 2 kids but I already thew my rules out the window. What's wrong with me?! I have the tendency to feel guilty. A lot. I need to just relax.

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  20. @Brandi Today is my last class. Thank goodness. I am so done. Except not really because I still have to grade and proctor exams.

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  21. @Jessica I don't know, good question. What do you guys think?

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  22. @thelocalspoon.com and I owe you a knife since you won the cook off! e-mail me.

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  23. What an adorable post - I love the idea of Quarter Chicken Soup and the fact that he plans to buy you flowers with the proceeds. That you have babies all day, teach a night class and cook a nutricious dinner in-between tells me you deserve those flowers.

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  24. @Vickie Thanks Vickie. I do love flowers and always try to have fresh flowers around.

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  25. That soup looks almost as delicious as those kidlets up there. Bribing them with dessert, money etc. for eating their dinner? We all do it. Some of us just aren`t as honest as you ;)

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  26. @fast times in münchen. thanks :) honestly is my forte, or shall we call it over sharing?!

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  27. This made me giggle, because all too soon, they learn to ask for a dollar, then it's 5 and before you know it, you won't even be able to get them to do it for 20. Hope you have a great weekend!
    -Gina-

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  28. That is the perfect ending to a very amusing story. Also, that soup sounds pretty tasty. :) Have a great weekend!

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  29. oh gosh! I love this story. My son is about to be four and has said some similar things to me in the past. It's easy to see how a little boy can wrap their mother around their little finger, isn't it?! :)

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