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Kate's Take
LET THEM HAVE CHICKEN NUGGETS
By: Kate Cayanni | November 18, 2021
When my kids were little, I was one of those moms that bought fresh organic produce and steamed and puréed it, pre-packing adorable little baby jars with home-made baby food.
As they graduated to more solid things, I roasted cubed root vegetables, made risottos and experimented with flavor combinations and spices. I’d look at them contentedly when they’d happily work through some new food item I’d created for them. But as those of you reading this surely know, the “agreeable eater” phase is just a phase. It comes to an end by the time babies become toddlers and realize that food and eating is one of the few things they can exert their power over. And my kids are feeling the power.
It started small, a refusal of peas, a pushing aside of carrots. One evening I decide to make it easy on myself. And it’s a treat for them, really. I place frozen disks of pulverized chicken onto the baking sheet and 10 minutes later, the nuggets are cooling and I’ve arranged them on a plate with a good dollop of ketchup and some fresh green beans and apple slices on the side—we must include fruits and vegetables, of course.
Their eyes light up.
The chicken nuggets, a perfect vessels for consuming as much ketchup as possible, are a winner and after several nights in a row of feeling like my kids are on a hunger strike, I mentally dance at the victory of seeing them consume calories. Then I think, “What am I doing? There’s no nutrition in that!” I watch my son, finished with his nuggets, contemplating the remaining ketchup on his plate and considered his options. He picks up a spoon and watches my reaction as he begins scooping the ketchup and eating it like pudding. I shake my head. “No, Sam. Ketchup is a sauce. Why don’t you eat some of your green beans, or apples?” He disappointedly places the spoon back onto his tray, picks up an apple slice, looks at the ketchup again and dips the apple into it.
A flash of protest nearly escapes my lips as I watch this, but I hesitate, choosing my battles. Happily, he eats the apple, dipping it in ketchup each time. This looks pretty gross to me, but at least he’s eating his apples! He even dipped some green beans and those made it into his stomach too! I’m not sure if this is victory, or disgraceful, but as I’m writing this, I’ve decided that I’m quite alright with not knowing. The dinner was argument-free, less food was wasted and they went to bed with food in their bellies.
I enjoy cooking. I recognize that not every mom does, but I like the challenge of coming up with ways to serve the food my husband and I eat in a way that is appealing and workable for them as well.
Every once in a while, it works. I’ve had great success with various rice dishes. Pasta is also often approved. But what I’ve realized when I have these successes, is that they are fleeting. On those nights, they simply decided to give me the power and they’ll take it right back even when I serve that same previously successful dish.
This is maddening.
It is also yet another reason on a long list of why toddlers need to be extremely cute. I’ve learned to save myself from the fruitless effort of reasoning with them about how last week this risotto was perfectly acceptable. In fact, they had two helpings!
I now keep chicken nuggets in my freezer.
Kate Cayanni is a mother to two toddlers, a lover of baking at home and handwritten letters. She is the founder of Good Smart Funny, where she helps small business owners develop a plan to hire their team and engage them. You can reach Kate by email – kate@goodsmartfunny.com follow her @goodsmartfunny or learn more at www.goodsmartfunny.com.
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