Dinner conversation

Here are some recent dinner conversation at our house

DD 2: Where do babies come from?
Me: From mom's tummy.
DD 2: I know, but how do they come out of mom's tummy?
So I tell her where they come out from and her eyes widen in shock and amazement and then she responds..
DD 2: Can I choose to have my babies come out of my mouth instead?


Another day. We are eating pork chops, broccoli and pasta for dinner. The older one has just read a book with some stories about cats.
DD 1: I can't believe cats eat birds, the intestines and all the bird droppings in it. ew disgusting!
DD 2 (putting a piece of pork in her mouth and trying to say something to match the above statement): I can't believe we are eating something that came from a chicken. ew disgusting!
DD 1: From pigs, silly, pigs!
DD 2 (eyes wide in amazements) : What? Broccoli comes form pigs?!

I have imposed strict fines (deducted from their daily quota of screen-time) for infractions in table manners, also a reward if they can finish their meal with decent manners, so we have much less wriggling and jumping out of chairs every few minutes to fetch another spoon, and much more interesting conversations at dinner these days. Not sure if the above are appropriate for a meal-time but I'll take these over whining about food any day.

Food for thought

Kids amaze me. I wish I could get into their little brain computer and print out a detailed log of processes!

I made cheeseburgers and steamed broccoli for dinner yesterday and my kids were excited about it. They happily ate their dinner without me ever having to ask them to eat some more. We had pleasant conversation at the table, you know, how one expects dinnertime to be. Even more surprising is the fact that I haven't made cheeseburgers in months, so this is a relatively new food for my kids, who like all children frown at all new food!

For as long as I know I have made Indian food for dinner so logically one would expect that, Indian food is what my kids like and would eat regularly! After all that is what they see on their plates every single day. And yet my kids usually come to dinner with long faces when they see Indian food on the table. They are both under 7, mind you, and not yet at an age where they are hanging out at friends' and seeing what they eat. Then I make cheeseburgers and they are excited about dinner.

Somebody please give me a manual. This is beyond me!!!