I was discussing Miss Frugal the other day with someone much wiser than me last week and they said something to me that I thought was very true and something I hadn’t really thought about before:
Part of growing up is learning that some of the decisions you make will be wrong.
I filed that little quote in the ‘useful parenting advice’ section of my brain until we had a situation yesterday where it was appropriate….
Those of you who’ve been around for a while will know that Miss Frugal can’t eat any form of processed meat as it causes quite bad abdominal migraines at worst and at best, short dizzy spells which is the pre-migraine aura – both things I wasn’t familiar with until she’d had all sorts of tests including an MRI to rule out the other more serious possible illnesses that these things can signify.
We were told by the specialist to look out for certain types of food that could trigger her attacks and after a bit of experimenting we decided the most likely suspect was processed meat (common apparently) so now we’ve been a good few months without her eating it. She’s only been ill once in that time and that was my fault as I mixed up their packed lunches and she ended up with a sausage roll!
It might not sound like a big thing but it really is, especially to a ten year old.
She’s always eaten quite well but like most children, she was always partial to the odd ‘junk food’ meal, especially when she has friends for tea or when she goes to other peoples houses for tea. Now she can’t eat anything lots of things that she used to enjoy and this frustrates her a little bit sometimes.
One thing she misses particularly is McDonalds which she used to enjoy and the last few weeks she’s asked me quite a few times if she could have one. I’ve been explaining to her that it’s not worth the tummy ache that she would more than likely get if she had one and she’s replied back to that every time telling me that it would be worth it.
So, when she asked again last night I decided to let her make the decision herself. I said to her that she could risk the tummy ache by having a McChicken Sandwich or we could make her some thing nice that we knew wouldn’t make her poorly.
Guess what she chose?
And guess who was poorly with tummy ache later on and ended up snuggled in with me with a hot water bottle?
But I didn’t say I told you so (even though I was dying to) and we had a talk about it when she was feeling better and I think it’s safe to say that she won’t be asking for any off limits food in the forseeable future!
