Image copyright©️姜啟明| New San Cai
Take your child to the dentist. After examination, the doctor told us that the child's teeth were growing well, but they were not ground enough.
The doctor asked whether the fruit should be cut into pieces when given to the child. I thought about it, and my mother-in-law took very good care of the children. She would peel and cut them into pieces every time, and sometimes steam them for the children to eat. After hearing this, the doctor suggested that the children should be allowed to grind their teeth more and eat more fruits without peeling them...
I couldn't help laughing after hearing this advice, because the doctor's advice was exactly what I was used to. I am too busy on weekdays to prepare fruits for my children so carefully. I often just wash them and hand them to my children to eat. But the elderly are different. They only need more time and patience, and they cannot accept my method of raising children.
For example, when eating lantern fruit, I usually put it on the plate with the skin and let the children remove the skin and eat the pulp by themselves. As for the mother-in-law, she not only removed the dry skin on the outside, but also removed the transparent skin close to the flesh, then cut it into pieces and put them on a plate for the children to eat with their own forks.
I didn't know at that time that the lack of friction from this kind of plant fiber would be bad for the teeth, but I deeply realized that such pampering would have a bad impact on children. For example, one time, my husband was on a business trip, and I took care of my children alone and worked overtime at night. The child wanted to eat fruit, and there happened to be lantern fruits at home. I took a plate and brought it to the table, and then continued working. As a result, the child was not happy and asked me to peel it like grandma and eat it with a fork.
I reasoned with the child that the transparent skin of the lantern fruit can be eaten. But the child was used to the elderly's meticulous care, and he cried and fussed uncooperatively. I simply went to work and ignored it. I told my child that if he didn't want to do it, he shouldn't eat it. The child was angry for a while, but finally accepted my "lazy mother" suggestion and went to eat the lantern fruit by himself. The child finally understood that the transparent skin of the lantern fruit is actually delicious.
If meticulous care is "luxury", my careless care is undoubtedly "frugal". The child's crying reflects the ancient saying that "it is easy to move from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to move from luxury to frugality." The dentist’s advice brings a lot to mind. Living a simple life is good for your body and your mental health. Many problems in life are actually caused by ourselves. Just like the skin of the lantern fruit, it is obviously edible, but if we have to remove it, aren't we asking for trouble?
Labor Day
September 7, 2024