The Young and the Vegetables

It was a lovely morning in Longtan today. A bit drizzly as I left my apartment building, but I got in without getting too wet. The big storm came just after I got into the building, as it happened, and kept up for quite a while. There isn't much that's more cozy than spending a morning in a room full of happy kids with rain coming down in sheets outside. So my whininess of last week has officially subsided. Now, on to today's story...

Maybe some of you remember the story of Peter, my kindy student whose mother ordered us not to make him eat his vegetables at lunchtime. I have feared all along that sooner or later, some of the other kids would start complaining about having to eat veggies when he didn't. Sure enough, it finally happened today.

The complainer was Peter's friend and frequent partner in crime, Young. (Some of the parents here give their kids English "names" that aren't really names at all in the English speaking world.) I'd suspected for a while that he would be the first to protest, since he sits near Peter and plays with him a lot, and I'd even solicited advice for just such an eventuality. One colleague suggested half in jest that we could just tell Young that if he eats his vegetables, he'll grow bigger and stronger than Peter. It's not the most diplomatic thing I could say and a five year old won't necessarily find it a convincing argument, but it seemed worth a try.

And so I did try. When I spooned out some greens to put in Young's lunch bowl today, he said, "No, teacher!" and gestured to Peter (who, as it happened, did take some veggies today anyhow).

I leaned in conspiratorily and said, "You know, Young, if you eat your vegetables, you'll grow bigger and stronger than Peter," and dropped the greens in his bowl as I said it. (It was all I could do not to say "If you eat your vegetables you'll be able to beat Peter up." That one might have gotten me in a bit of trouble.)

Young looked at the vegetables in his bowl, looked at me, looked at Peter, evidently thought about what I had just said, and then pointed at the serving plate of vegetables.

And he said...







..."More, please."

Yeah, I know I ought to be ashamed of myself. But hey, he's a smart kid!

By the way, Peter does sometimes eat veggies without an argument now, although he tends to spill more food on his shirt than he ever gets into his mouth. It's a start.