taste the love

We talk about love a lot as I suspect many families do. We say, "I love you" but we also talk about how we can show we love each other in other ways. Doing chores, giving hugs, making a drawing or a card for someone, letting someone sleep in, going to work every day... I think that people who cook and prepare food for others also show their care and love. How special do you feel when someone bakes pie from scratch, or you smell home-made bread?

The other night we had pork chops, carrots and peas and oven potatoes. I said to M, "I put my love into the food I cook for you and Daddy and I," and she replied, "I can taste it!"

Made my heart melt. Often enough, even with an adventurous eater you get greeted with "Yuck" and "I don't like shrimp!" It is so nice to hear, "Great dinner Mom!" (The most raving comes on mac-n-cheese night, so effort does not necessarily correlate with compliments.) Remember, your job is done when you put the food on the table. You can feel good about yourself, your partner can model, "Thanks for making this great dinner," then let the kids eat, or not...