Judah Talks Nutrition

Judah has been asking a lot of questions lately.

Not all that unusual for a four year old, but lately I've been a bit surprised by how deep the questions have been.

We do our level best while fielding these questions to quench his thirst for knowledge by trying to explain the particulars at kid level. After all, enquiring minds need to know!

In our household, it's not unusual for Jeff to explain exactly what he's doing under the hood of the car to an inquisitive Judah. Or for me to give the nutritional explanation behind why our children should eat particular foods.

"You need to eat your steak, Judah...it's good for your muscles and will help you grow big and strong like daddy and brother."

These sorts of comments seems to motivate him to eat his food like nothing else, because Judah wants nothing more than to grow big and strong so that he can go to Kindergarten and be in wrestling and football and become an army guy all the other things that big guys 'get' to do. Lord have mercy!

Just this morning, after pulling teeth trying to persuade him to eat his homemade egg mcmuffin, only to have him balk at the fried egg I'd put in it, I firmly put it this way, "You need to eat the egg, Judah. Eggs are very good for your brain development."

For some reason, this approach seemed to resonate with him and he picked up his food and began to eat.

During the remainder of our breakfast, our conversation continued along that same vein with him asking, me answering.

"What are carrots good for again?" he asked, knowing I'd told him before but seemingly needing a refresher.

"They're very good for your eyes" I said. "They help you to see really well."

"What are all de udder vetch-ables good for?" he asked, like a little sponge, seeming genuinely interested in absorbing the 'whys' behind it all.

I went on for the next few minutes answering how certain foods were good for the heart and the blood and for good circulation, and then finished by extolling the general benefits of all fruits and veggies in giving the body all kinds of nutrients and vitamins that our bodies need to work at their optimal best and prevent illnesses.

Judah, seeming to understand, added, "Yeah, and greens are good for our ears."

O-kaaaay I thought, trying to recall what little nutritional tidbit I must've read about greens that was supposed to be good for hearing, but while rolodexing through my nutritional knowledge drew a blank.

His face rapt with attention, I opted to just run with it as the teachable moment that it was and said, "You're right...greens are very, very good for our bodies. That's why we need to eat lots of salads, huh?"

He agreed.

By this time we were about finished eating and I got up to clean things up in the kitchen.

A little later, while in my craft room working on a current project, I heard Judah playing with his toys on the floor nearby reciting verbatim in a singsong childish voice something he'd heard recently in a movie, "Good morning, young Prince".

It was then I realized I'd been had.

By a four year old with an uncanny ability for reciting information and quotes from his favorite movies.



"Eating greens is a special treat.
It makes long ears and great big feet.
But they sure are awful things to eat. (I made up the last part myself.) "
~ Thumper in Disney's Bambi

And here I thought he was truly interested in nutrition. Hmph.