He had rice and salt for dinner.
This mother prepared 2 pieces pan-grilled chicken barbecue, a cup of rice, and two slices of ripe mangoes. These were her Bunso’s lunch baon yesterday. Later that day, she found the food inside a trash bin. Her seven-year old son did not touch his baon. And he threw his lunch just like that.
Frustrated that her favorite Bunso did not eat lunch and worst, threw his food, she thought of a well-deserved lesson for the little man.
And so for his dinner, Bunso had rice and sea salt.
It pains me to see my son eat rice with no meat nor fish on his plate. But I know it will pain me more if I miss this opportunity to teach him a valuable lesson — 1) not to waste food and 2) appreciate other’s effort towards you.
The young men in our house may not probably worry much about the food wasted, but with proper briefing that food wasted means money wasted, somehow they might understand why I got annoyed with Bunso’s acts. In own household, we have grocery and market budget, and as a parent, I — together with husband – do our very best to feed and nourish our children. The best our children could do to pay forward is to not waste the food or money spent to buy for the food.
Also, I explained to the boys the value of respect and appreciation. I mentioned to them that I wake up very early in the morning to prepare for and cook their baon and breakfast. Their mama would like to sleep for a few more minutes but she preferred to go down and prepare food. Their mother would be very happy if her kids would appreciate her cooking by consuming their baon and not throwing them in the garbage.
Aside from our talk, I now involve the boys in the food preparation. By doing this, it would be easier for them to appreciate just how much work was involved with cooking their meal. I hope through this appreciation, I would see less food in the garbage or better, see none at all.
If you have kids who throw out more food than they eat, what do you do? I am not that confident with the “rice and salt” thing, though I hope it made an impact on them. Would love to hear your stories, please.
* September 16, 2013. I am organizing my blog post and chance upon this entry. I decided to re-post this as a reminder to myself to be patient with the boys. Just last week, my Bunso did not finish his food. I did nothing. Am I being indifferent already?
I believe in tough love. I’m not so sure about the rice and sea salt because that would also probably end up in the garbage. But other alternatives for disciplining children would be removing their privileges from play time. I do commend you for letting them join you while preparing for the food. That would let them appreciate the time and effort you have been giving to prepare food for them.
Thank you. That was the first and last rice and sea salt scene in our house. Play time privileges are also good ideas. 🙂
Hi, is your son aware that he is being punished/penalized for throwing away food? If ever, and I hope you do not get offended if I offer an alternative…
I agree with penalties, however, I would make it appear as if I am sympathizing with him. Pa simple lang. The idea is that on one hand, he learns a lesson on not wasting food AND cause and effect, pero also, not to use the same thing to learn about revenge or ganti.
So pasimple lang as if what had happened with his food was a natural thing to happen in cases of wastage.
I hope I made sense.
Sympathizing is an effective way as well, I guess. Thank you for this recommendation. 🙂
Make me feel bad :'( when I was a not so little girl. I throw away the chocomilk my mom and dad prepared for me, but as I become more mature I realize that, effort of them just for me to have a nutrients in my body. Maybe tell him a story how blessed he was for having that meal because not everyone eat what he eats as you make a bonding moments through involving him in your food prep. Who knows maybe he might wanna be a chef in the future.
I guess we all went through the same experience when we were too young and just so carefree. Cant wait for my boy to be a chef. Ihihi
Oh, you are great parent don’t worry. I grew up not liking specific meals but I never threw away food because I feel like thats a common sense. Maybe they are too young eventually they will get better trust me.
Thank you. Hopefully they understand and will not take it against their mothet.
As a mom I struggle with this issue too. I hate when I slave away and my kids won’t even try it! It is a lot of work. I haven’t tried the rice and salt trick but I have let them know if they are not going to eat it then they can make themselves something different. I just hate to see the waste of food more than anything. I love how you are patient about the process though.
Thank you. Sometimes kids can be kids. They are just bein honest with their feelings. Hope they mean nothing to harm the feelings of their parents.
I am impressed with how you handled this situation. If it were my mom, she would have beaten us black and blue. I’m not a mom yet but you have taught me something that I might be able to use with children should they behave this way.
Thank you. Perhaps when you become a mom, you will be patient and loving. Kids can be so adorable most of the time you dont like to hurt their feelings.
Wow that sure is pretty surprising to give up something delicious. Me and my family really do our best to teach the lesson on wasting food. It doesn’t only involve the value of money, but it involves the value of life and resources. Food is something unfortunately not everyone has and to throw it away is like dissing the people who don’t have anything to eat.
First off, I would make your child realize how lucky and fortunate he is. One thing my dad never does is scream at us. He talks to us like normal people. It works to be honest because it’s not always nice being screamed at. He needs to understand the value of food and money and how big of an impact those 2 resources are in our world.
Hope this helps.
I understand that it is so hard to handle situations like these i.e. to manage and teach the kids. I agree with Robert, maybe you can establish reward and punishment policies. Or maybe you can involve them in budgeting the food so that they’d realize the importance plus the related cost.
Yey, nice idea. They help me with the market and food preparation now. Im also training them how to cook. And they seem to enjoy the new tasks.
This is such a tough call! My kids often refuse food because they are very picky as to what they like to eat, and I find it exhausting deciding how to teach them a lesson.
Tough indeed and i hope they learned their lessons. Dont want to do this ever again .
I think , it is the same old story everywhere with kids . They need to learn the value of money and to appreciate the effort their parents put in , to get food on the table . The idea with rice & salt might sound tough , but hey …what’s wrong with this ? I think , this is a lot more impressive than arguing or yelling at your children in order to make them eat . I don’t know , how old Bunso is , but I am sure , he will understand and learn .
We’ve been consistent with appreciate others’ effort and finish your food so I guess the boys got the message. And I hope so too they understand it completely.
Kids, if not oriented at an early age of work=food will grow with an entitlement mentality. I agree with you, it hurts to see our kids go thru the discipline, but it’s better to see them go thru some difficulty in a controlled environment, than experienced it elsewhere. You’re a good mom!
Thank you for the kind words.
I think it’s a good idea for you to let the kids prepare the food too. That way, they would know how it was done (with patience). It would make them excited too to eat as they prepared it themselves. 🙂
Yes, agree. We have been doing that now and I could see the enthusiasm and eagerness in them. 🙂