Parenthood – The Great Trade Off

There are so many things we want to give our children.  But sometimes, reality makes that really really hard.

‘Expert advice says no screen-time for the under-2s…I’ve got a long plane journey with a wriggly 18 month old.’

‘I’m not supposed to add salt to my baby’s food…all the bread in the supermarket has salt listed on in the ingredients.’

‘Everyone says open-ended natural toys are the way forward…Grandma has just turned up with a piece of battery-powered noise-and-sound-making piece of plastic.’ 

The Grandparent Files – A Pinch of Salt

My mother-in-law came to visit the other day. Regular readers will know that she can’t help but interfere. Probably with the best of intentions, but still.

In this instance what attracted her criticism was the BabyBoy and BabyGirl did not seem to like the quiche I’d made for their lunch. I wasn’t concerned – they were eating other things – and we have been doing baby-led weaning so I’m keen to let them choose foods.

Nothing would do but for mother-in-law to make another dish for BabyBoy and BabyGirl. It most certainly was not necessary and I didn’t want her to but I decided to be polite and let her get on with it. Whatever.

Now my mother-in-law cannot speak much English. I also know that her views on child-rearing are different from ours. So I asked Multidaddy to remind her not to put salt in the food.