I had a very different post planned for today…a recap of the summer…projects I hadn’t posted, activities we enjoyed, beautiful things we had seen but then as I was looking through photographs to share I ran across this one:
It’s a photo of Simon and Grace eating jello.
Nothing too shocking about that right?
Well…
What if I told you they have never eaten jello before?
And then what if I went on to say that not only haven’t they ever eaten jello before they haven’t even ever SEEN jello before?
Before last week that is.
This picture was taken last week while we were on vacation.
We were with my entire family and had just been served our salads when my brothers asked me what the heck my kids were doing to their jello.
When I looked up, this is what I saw.
They didn’t know if they were suppossed to eat it or play with it.
All they knew was that they hadn’t ever seen anything like it.
It wiggled.
It jiggled.
It danced in the bowl.
We laughed until we cried.
How could two kids being raised in Utah have missed being exposed to jello?
It seems impossible…but yet it’s true.
After triple dog daring Simon he finally gave it a taste.
But he (like his mom and dad) decided that jello wasn’t really his thing to eat.
And as for Gracie she found it was far more fun to play with than eat.
When we left the restaurant the table look like a the scene of a massacre—a very red, messy, congealed massacre.
I think it may be awhile before my kids encounter jello again.
liZ
PS—After this little experience we started thinking about what other foods most kids eat but my kids haven’t seen—we came up with chicken nuggets, sloppy joes, and corn dogs.
My poor kids…I really should do something about this…take them to the state fair, make Simon eat school lunch, buy a dang happy meal..something, one day…maybe, but that day is not to day. Today we will stick to our regular jello free diet.
Have a good one!
And if you think about it eat a corn dog—for my kids sake.
Post Edit: I just reread through this post (anything to keep my mind off Simon going back to school today—why can’t summer last forever?) and it occurred it me that if you don’t know me it may sound like I may actually be one of those healthy super moms.
So lest you be deceived into thinking we are over here snacking on quinoa (not that there is anything wrong with that) let me just say that while sloppy joes have never seen the inside of my house my kids savor buttery garlic bread, love to chug rootbeer, and think that chips and salsa are one of the 5 food groups. Which reminds me…I bought everything to make another batch of salsa today…it’s 8:30…that’s not too early to be eating salsa is it?
too funny! my kids had never had boxed mac and cheese…until my mom cooked it for them one day at her house. my son kept asking “but where is the cheese?” proudly mine is still way better:) oh and my kids have never had a corn dog either, nor have i.
This was great. My daughter was 3 before she experienced jello. I’m not sure about my son since he was in daycare as a small child. He had to have a medical procedure and was on a liquid diet so jello was suggested. Neither of them really liked it. I don’t like it so we don’t have it at our house. If my Mom hadn’t given my son his first Happy Meal at 3, he wouldn’t have had any experience with those either. She’s the only one who buys them for my kids–I don’t like McDonalds.
great post! your poor kids….
That is so funny! We are not jello eaters either… so funny when that was part of dinner growing up at least once a week! Along with fruit cocktail from a can. How times change.
my 6 and 3 year old have never had a mc donald or burger king or pizza hut or kfc (and the likes), so know what you mean..but like you we do have chips and ketchup!!! and they do like their hot dogs with baked beans….but have to confess dont know what a corn dog is! so dont know if we’ve ever had one or not…
and when at a restaurant they’d much rather have a proper roast chicken than nuggets!
My 14 year old twinn boys had corn dogs and burgers and all that but never ate or had seen jello until this summer in california…they liked to play with it like poking the spoon in it…. but they did not care for it at all…
My daughter was 8 before first encountering jello at her grandmother’s house…lime jello with shredded carrots to be exact. She looked at it in horror and exclaimed, dramatically of course, that she would never ever eat something that looked like Martian poo.
I almost died laughing!
Oh that is a shame! 🙂 My girls absolutely LOVE jello! Our newest way of making it is Jello Roll-Ups made with mini marshmallows. Please give them a try! They are super easy to make, microwave only! Here’s the link for ya….. http://www.joyofjello.com/?p=1085
I enter my dresses I sew into the State Fair every year. Just down the street from the fair grounds is a Hostess outlet. One year when dropping off my stuff I thought it might be fun to go see what they had. My then five year old asked me what a Twinkies were. I felt liek a good mom and a bad mom all at the same time.
Love the picture capturing the moment. I’m not a huge jello fan but had to laugh when a coworker asked me not to bring a jello salad to a potluck in Wisconsin but when we moved to Idaho there was a sign up at church asking for jello. HA.
That is so sweet. Bless their cotton socks! Great picture to capture the moment too! 🙂
Funny! Those foods are all just like “retro” foods now. My younger kids didn’t know about Jello either but my teens remembered it from Grandmas. And I KNOW you are hiding the quinoa over there, y’all!