Last night, right before supper time, my son asked, "What are we having for dinner?" I replied lasagna. He replied, "I hate lasagna!" (He doesn't, but I don't what kind of mood he was in to say that) We started talking back and forth, me with my normal, "Well, if I cook it, you're going to eat it." Then I had an idea....If my son didn't like what I had planned, let him make it! I then proposed to him that he make dinner, if he wanted something different. My only criteria was it had to include a meat, veggie and carb. He got excited! He ran and pulled out my cookbooks and started looking for something to cook. I already had ground turkey meat thawed out, so he decided to make mac and cheese with ground hamburger mixed in with our side being canned green beans. With very minimal advice from me, my son made dinner! And it was good!
My point of telling this story is that I could have done what I always do, and had my way. Instead, I gave my son the opportunity to have it his way. In turn, he gained the experience of cooking an entire meal, almost completely by himself. I also showed him that his opinion is important. Now, I won't always be able to accomodate his desires, but last night it worked!
