So..... here is the question..........do I let my Keto Kid play while the rest of us sit down to a meal OR do I make him sit with the family at the table.....while we eat.......and he doesn't...........??? I know it sounds like the answer should be an easy one. Right? Of course you wouldn't force a Keto Kid to sit and watch other people eat their food!!! But, as usual............I have a few more thoughts on this question.
Here is how it all began...Yesterday, at Thanksgiving Dinner I wished I had taught Noah to come and sit with the family for some of our meal. I wanted him to pray with us, listen to the conversation, laugh with us and be around the family Feast table. How selfish am I? I wouldn't want to sit around a table and watch my family feed their faces with food that I can't even eat.
First of all, Noah's afternoon meal falls at 3:45pm. The large family dinner didn't happen until 5pm. It wasn't at my house and I wasn't in charge of dinner. So, the timing wasn't my choice. My family, all 14 of us, sat down and joined hands in prayer. I really wanted Noah to join us but he was nowhere close to the dinner table at the time. My husband and I were tucked on the back side of the long table with virtually no way to inch ourselves out to go over and get Noah to come and pray with the family. Not only that..............Noah was being a fusser boy!!! He put sunglasses on and began giggling during the family Thanksgiving Prayer offered by my 90 year old grandfather. Although I really should have been listening to the prayer, I was laughing inside about how funny Noah was acting and torn because he should have better manners than to be so silly at dinner. Soon after the prayer was finished, Noah kept calling loudly to me, to my husband or to his grandpa - Over and over and over!!! Such a buggin' boy sometimes! My husband and I kind of zoned him out and tried not to acknowledge him after we had told him we would help him after we ate. But apparently it really bothered my step-Mom and she kindly set him up with some legos. That occupied him for a bit but still.....part of me really wished I could have incorporated him into the Thanksgiving Feast a bit more....
There has to be some balance with teaching Noah table manners during a large family event, requiring his participation in the non-food moments of dinner while at the same time respecting his need to not sit and watch everyone else feed their faces. I didn't manage it well this holiday... guess we'll figure it out for Christmas!!!
Love my Keto Kid!
