Did I ever mention that I’m a little obsessed with whole foods, whole wheat in particular? I consider plain, bleached flour worthy only of homemade play-dough. I feel like I’ve accomplished something big if Georgia consumes mostly whole wheat, a bit of protein, a daily serving of wild blueberries and spinach (which we’re lucky she likes, as long as we play a very complicated, Harry Potter-related game called "Who is in this Boat?"). The whole wheat part at least isn’t that hard, she’s been eating whole wheat pasta, whole wheat pancakes, and whole wheat crackers since she was a tiny thing, but she considers it the greatest treat to have a piece of white toast or a big, nutritionally void white flour pancake.

So when I helped out in her class the other day I was not surprised to see that she chose plain old Saltines as her mid-morning snack. Half an hour later, when her energy level dropped, she melted into sobs, saying how hungry she was and that she couldn’t possibly wait 20 minutes until lunch. Another little cracker eater came up to sign to me that he was hungry. Many of the kids were suddenly grouchy — they had eaten something, it just wasn’t the right something. Saltines didn’t have enough fuel for their little body machines to keep going.

After school I explained to her, “Saltines don’t really have that much good stuff in them to keep you going, I’m sorry you were so hungry today. I also need to make sure you eat a better breakfast.”

“What can I eat?” she said, as if I was taking away all luxury.

“Well, for snack if there’s something with whole wheat, that might help you feel full longer, because it has more good things it in for your body to run on. And for breakfast you need something with some protein, so you’ll feel better until lunch. You can have French toast, or a pancake?” I make my pancakes with whole wheat flour, wheat bran and soy protein powder, so they are a bit better than regular pancakes, and she loves them. I make a big batch on Sunday and toast one at a time in the mornings when she wants one.

“OK! Pancakes!” That part wasn’t hard, but I didn’t have high hopes for the snack portion of the day. Especially since not every Kindergarten parent is a organic, whole grain nut like I am.

But yesterday she came home from school and said, “I had whole wheat Saltines today!”

I wondered if there was such a thing, and doubted the whole grain content and the nutritional value (which upon further scrutiny is negligible) but said, “Wow, great! Did it make you feel better before lunch?”

“I don’t know, it’s kinda hard to explain…” That’s her pat answer for everything she doesn’t want to talk about.

And tonight I asked her if she wanted whole wheat tortillas or corn tortillas, and she said, “I don’t need whole wheat because I had whole wheat Saltines today and I’ll keep eating whole wheat Saltines until they run out, for YOU!”

Ohhh, so it’s all for me is it? At some point she won’t care about pleasing me, so I guess I better enjoy it now. But I am pleased that she is making a conscious choice, even if she doesn’t get why quite yet. And it’s too soon to have her reading labels, but we’ll get there, and eventually she’ll know the difference between whole grains and wheat-washing! 

Photo credit: mr.bologna