I would not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. For the act, itself, defied all laws of kid physics.
The story begins with a craving my wife had for Arby’s curly fries. If you knew my wife, you would know how odd such a craving would be. For her to want something that isn’t leafy and green or didn’t fall out of a tree is out of the ordinary. She had had the craving for a couple days. However, on Saturday morning, we had to drop off some letters at the post office, and on the way home, we just so happened to pass by an Arby’s.
When we got home, she emptied the carton of fries onto a plate, popped them in the microwave for a quick blast of radiation, and then proceeded to satisfy her craving. Our daughter, Lily, who has never even seen curly fries before was curious at this new item on Mom’s plate. It was getting close to her lunch time so my wife gave her a bite. To no one’s surprise, she loved them. I guess there’s a reason little kids only want to eat French fries and chicken fingers. They taste good.
Lily kept shoving them in her mouth as fast as my wife could give them to her. I wasn’t in the mood for curly fries, though. So I went to the fridge, grabbed a pear, and then sat down next to the two of them. That’s when the unthinkable happened. Lily took a curly fry out of her mouth and asked for a bite of my pear. I complied, and she asked for another. My wife asked her if she wanted any more curly fries and she shook her head “no”. She wanted my pear. My wife said she had never been prouder.
So what’s the moral of the story? Pears taste better than curly fries? Hardly. The moral of the story is that Lily prefers pears due to her repeated exposure to them. Our therapist told us that it takes at least twenty exposures before children are able to make a determination whether or not they like a particular food item. Parents of special needs children face so many challenges every day. As a result, they may give in to a child’s dietary demands in order to save their energy for a bigger battle. It is important that they not do so or else obesity may be their next challenge.
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