One Inch of Juice

Some years ago I had my cousin, husband and toddler daughter, Olivia, over for dinner.  I didn’t have children and as a bit of background, I didn’t babysit when I was younger.   Suffice it to say, I knew very little about children other than they were cute and said funny things.

They arrived to dinner and my cousin walked over to the table, which I had set out for everyone.   For a meal you set out plates, napkins, forks, spoons and knives.   I put a glass at each seat and a nice place mat under each place setting.    When my cousin saw the table she immediately began to clear off almost everything at one place, saying, “we won’t be needing these” in an upbeat tone.   She pulled out a plastic plate, cup and utensils and told me that would work better for Olivia.

When it was time to pour the drinks I asked what Olivia might like.   I took the glass and was about to fill it up when my cousin said, “just pour one inch in her cup”.   One inch?  That didn’t seem like a lot of liquid.

But today is a different story: I have two children and I completely get it.   Small children don’t eat on ceramic plates, they eat on plastic because they drop things.   Small children do better with plastic utensils because they’re not the most graceful or accurate with their limbs.   And small children don’t need a full glass of juice of milk, they just need one inch.

We’ve been operating on a one inch mode for a long while now.   I don’t think my husband or I ever talked about it specifically, but it was just obvious that you don’t give a child who makes frequent spills a lot of liquid.   You also don’t give a child a drink that’s so large they drink it all and then have no room for the meal.

Our children are a bit larger now and they’re able to drink more (and spill less).   I think they’re ready to graduate to two inches of liquid now.

The Big Boy Update:  My son told me they tried coconut at school the other day.   He said the milk tasted funny.   I asked him what he thought about the coconut meat.   He said, “I didn’t like it, but I lied to people and said, ‘oh, this is so good’”.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter got new sandals today.  It’s very hot, eighty-six degrees I think right now, and she needed some new summer shoes.   They’re silver and sparkly on the top.  She loves them.