Nothing makes me more frustrated, even angry at times, than feeding my children a meal, and then them coming back immediately upon finishing it and saying they're hungry, what else can they have?
It especially seems to grate on me when I know we're low on food, low on money to buy more food, and I had to scrape together what I fed them in the first place. I know it's not their fault. And it kills me to have to tell them, no, they can't have more food right now. I feel guilty for having to essentially place an adult burden on them, especially Princess #1. She's at that age where she wants to know WHY. A simple answer isn't enough. And I feel compelled to tell her, maybe just so I don't have to carry the burden myself? I don't know.
But I know I need to get a handle on why it angers me so much. Why do I get so ticked off at them for asking for more food? I know in my head that they're not being ungrateful although it feels that way. I think ultimately I'm angry at myself, for not being able to have an unlimited amount of food at their disposal, I'm angry that we have to be so careful, especially when we're in between paychecks, I'm angry that I can't just not think about money at all when I look at food. And that anger gets projected onto them unfortunately.
I'm working on it. I've asked my princesses to help me with this. I'm dreading summer, with the long hot days stretching out interminably in front of us. I think a meal/snack schedule might be in order, just to keep all of us (me) from going crazy. I need to find a solution because I can't keep responding the way I seem wired to do. The amount of food isn't going to change. The amount of money isn't going to change. The fact that my princesses like to eat alot throughout the day isn't going to change. So I need to change. And I will. Eventually.
We eat a lot of cheap popcorn and apples. Big hugs, girl!
ReplyDeletexoxo,t
Having a schedule will be helpful. Some days I have felt like I never left the kitchen!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. My husband is the sole provider in our family and I have to be so careful with how I spend our money from week to week. I have started really watching the sales ads and using coupons a lot over the past two years and it has helped so much. Whenever I find a good buy on something I stock up. Having more than one kid makes it hard too because they all eat differently. I have one that expects a full meal for every meal, one grazer and one that would happily survive on little Debbie cakes and cheerios. I did start telling mine that once it's gone I will not be going shopping until the end of the week and that has helped. Good luck!
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