The Princess, the Pouting and the Peas

So being a complete glutton for punishment, I decide (during the week that Elijah works 20 hours days every day) that I need to get my kids to eat their vegetables somehow. I got the cookbook from the library about how to 'sneak' or hide the veggies into food, but I thought I would try bribery first. While making dinner, I made up some pudding. I also made peas. I came and got the kids for dinner from their 'boat' in the middle of the living room, but I told them I had a deal for them. IF they could eat everything on their plate, I would give them dessert. Benjamin was all excited because we never have dessert...then he saw his plate. God forbid I ask the child to eat something green. Now I remember being exactly like him. I can remember the mere thought of eating a green bean making me physically ill. Although let it be known, I ate a Healthy Choice meal for lunch yesterday that was 60% green beans, and I ate them all. Anyway, it didn't go well. Avery just hopped up in her seat and ate the peas first and asked for pudding. She had no issues. Benjamin cried and threw a fit like I had offered him rocks with a side of mud. I told him I wasn't asking him to eat the peas, he didn't even have to try them. Our deal was for them to clear their plates and they would get dessert. He cried for quite a while:

And then he pouted some. I told him I would never put anything on his plate that he didn't like, because when I was a kid I was even more picky than he was. He tried to argue with me, but I stood my ground and Avery ended up getting a little and he wouldn't even let one pea grace his lips. We had a nice talk about making choices in life, and how sometimes to get what we want, we have to do something we don't like. It all depended on how much we wanted it. He understood and decided that pudding was not worth eating peas. He still tried to get around it, but I figured last night was as good a time as any to teach some life lessons. He was only upset for a few minutes after dinner was over, he got in the shower and was fine. He didn't even mention anything about it after that or before bed. It helped that we had a huge stack of books from the library to pick from for bedtime stories. Now I know to just hide the veggies. Here are some pics of Avery enjoying the fruits of her labor: