{"id":10164,"date":"2006-08-21T09:06:55","date_gmt":"2006-08-21T16:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/08\/21\/because-im-the-parent-thats-why.html"},"modified":"2006-08-21T09:06:55","modified_gmt":"2006-08-21T16:06:55","slug":"because_im_the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/21\/because_im_the.html","title":{"rendered":"Because I’m the Parent, That’s Why!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"\n<\/div>\n

There seem to be way too many parents out there who are constitutionally unable to say “No.” These are the ones who bitch and moan loudest about the cereal aisle, as Little Billy and Suzie grab boxes and bags and crates of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs and hurl them into the shopping cart, as Mommy and Daddy stand haplessly by. <\/p>\n

Just. Say. No. <\/p>\n

Part of saying no is not just saying no, but giving options. When it comes to cereal, we have two: <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \nAnything that’s super-sweet we simply call “camping cereal<\/strong>.” It’s a special treat, provided only on camping trips and other such occasions. If Katherine squawks for Fruit Loops or Lucky Charms — “Sorry, honey, that’s camping cereal, you know that.”<\/li>\n
  2. \nLook for alternatives<\/strong>. At the store on Saturday, Katherine pointed out the Fruit Loops and some other stuff. We got her looking at the sugar content. Down at the bottom was Cheerios, at 1g sugar per serving (Katherine thinks of them as “packets” of sugar, which is even better). When you get into the Apple Jacks and stuff like that, you’re talking 12, 13, 14g of sugar. When looked at like that, Katherine understands (just as I understand that plain Cheerios are too bland). So instead we found
    \nsome “organic” (it says it on the box) Fruit Loops substitutes that have only 7g of sugar. Not great, but not bad. And Kitten ate-them-up-yum this morning with no problem.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And for kids who cannot be mollified by anything less than the box that has Media Character X or Toy Y — tough patooties. Offer the alternatives (“You can have this, or this, or this, choose one”) and if they refuse the alternatives, they just don’t get anything. And if they pitch a fit, time-outs and more drastic punishments are fine alternatives. <\/p>\n

    The diktat “Because I’m the parent, that’s why” is open to abuse, certainly. But it’s got a large pit of truth in it — if you’re not the parent, who will be? <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    (And, yes, Avo, I remember that it’s Buzzy<\/em> the Hummingbird …) <\/p>\n

    <\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There seem to be way too many parents out there who are constitutionally unable to say “No.” These are the ones who bitch and moan loudest about the cereal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-drink","category-parenting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7483,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/23\/just_say_no.html","url_meta":{"origin":10164,"position":0},"title":"Just say No","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Feb-05 10:08am","format":false,"excerpt":"Gads! British (and, doubtless, American) parents are helpless before the Evils of Cereal Cartoon Characters! Gads! A crackdown on the use of children's cartoon characters to market food products is...","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16811,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/02\/25\/katherines-science-fair-project.html","url_meta":{"origin":10164,"position":1},"title":"Katherine’s Science Fair project","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 25-Feb-10 8:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Kay's experiment for her school Science Fair was to test whether people accurately gauge how much sugar is in cereal -- particular \"adult\" cereal vs. \"kid\" cereal. She chose Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Raisin Bran, and Quaker Oats Granola. The survey subjects were shown bags with a cup of the cereal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"Magically delicious ... and evil?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/Lucky-Charms-cereal-208x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":133182,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/31\/eternal-revenge.html","url_meta":{"origin":10164,"position":2},"title":"Eternal Revenge","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 31-Mar-17 10:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"Heh. Originally shared by +Les Jenkins: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - You Suck I'm back from London! What a wonderful time and what a wonderful show. We sold all of our single-use monocles, which in retrospect isn't surprising for a show in Britain. Major congratulations to Katherine Read, who won\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138984,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/06\/03\/breakfast-of-champions-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":10164,"position":3},"title":"Breakfast of Champions!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Jun-19 11:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Pizza is a better morning meal than a bowl of cereal, says at least one nutritionist.","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pizza-leftover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pizza-leftover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pizza-leftover.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/pizza-leftover.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4090,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/02\/07\/friday_friday_f.html","url_meta":{"origin":10164,"position":4},"title":"Friday, Friday, Friday","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 7-Feb-03 8:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"So why not indulge in the Friday Five?...","rel":"","context":"In "Personal Q&A"","block_context":{"text":"Personal Q&A","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personal-qa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137134,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/12\/yeah-im-a-sucker-for-a-personal-qa-memes-like-this.html","url_meta":{"origin":10164,"position":5},"title":"Yeah, I’m a sucker for a Personal Q&A memes like this","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-Sep-18 12:49am","format":false,"excerpt":"\u25aaFavorite smell - Sauteeing onions and garlic; cookies baking; apple pie; mimeographs \u25aaFavorite foot attire - Birkenstocks \u25aaFavorite restaurant - The Wooden Table (Greenwood Village, CO) \u25aaFavorite cereal - As a cold cereal, Cheerios (with plenty of sugar). \u25aaJeans or shorts - Shorts. Though I can put up with jeans.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/dave-obamiconme.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}