Monday, February 28, 2011

Guess Who's Not Coming To Dinner

Miss Manners, Emily Post, Martha Stewart... they will never be dinner guests at my house.

While the rest of the family dined on chicken and rice last night, Sean enjoyed an Italian sausage.  He doesn't like the texture of the breading on the chicken (too crumbly) or the rice (too slimy).  We actually have very few meals that all five of us like.  Pancakes and French toast.... maybe I should be an IHOP exec.

I remember watching the new tv show Parenthood.  I only turned it on because they were going to be portraying a family dealing with an autistic child.  I watched it once and vowed never again.  The scene had the father and son in a standoff over mashed potatoes and video games.  The son wouldn't be excused to play until he had eaten 10 bites of the potatoes.

After a short back and forth, the son simply counted down the bites and ate them.  No meltdown.  No crying.  No gagging.  Nothing.  If only it could be that easy!!!!

Sean would have gagged, drooled, cried, screamed, maybe even vomited.  Dealing with the texture would have been like torture for him.

And, in the end, we would have given up because we realize there are bigger, more important fights to fight.

Thus, Sean eats Italian sausage.... and most of the time he even uses utensils.  His love of spaghetti played a huge part in conquering that mountain.

His eating habits are far from "date" ready but, then again, he is only 12.

3 comments:

  1. It is funny you mention Parenthood. I too think that show does a poor representation of Aspergers. By chance, a coworker told me just this morning that tomorrow's episode has the parents talking to their son about it. I may just check it out for a laugh. I checked the website and this is what it says about tomorrows show:

    Tuesday, March 1st 10/9c
    "Qualities and Difficulties" (TV-14)
    Adam and Kristina have a tough time explaining Asperger's to Max.

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  2. So...rice is too slimy, but spaghetti is OK? You DO have a tough time ahead (and behind!)... :-)

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  3. I am with you on two of your comments: We have very few meals the whole family will eat. We finally discovered one restaurant chain where the whole family can find something to eat: Subway. At least this used to be true. We have not tried it in years since we never travel together any more.

    The few meals I make that the whole family can eat are assemble your own types of meals. I fix the ingredients separately, and each person puts his (or her) own together in the desired combination.

    I also relate to your lack of success in getting a family member to eat something they do not want to eat. No effort has been more wasted than this. One of my kids started eating a new food once. Pizza. That's the only food I have ever seen added to the diet. Many have been dropped over the years.

    I learned recently that some occupational therapists earn a living at getting kids on the spectrum to try new foods. I would like to see one try on my family. Anyone succeeding would deserve a Nobel prize.

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