Green smoothies for birthdays?

So my 12-y.o. was sitting here with me, excitedly planning her birthday party next month. Making a list of girls to invite, foods she wants provided. We’re doing “Café Rio” type salads, a big platter of pineapple (her favorite thing), and she has asked for . . . green smoothies.

No lie. And this is my most resistant child. (The youngest likes to play “picky,” which I don’t indulge, and the oldest has been condescending about the nutrition I provide, the past year or so since splitting his time between my home and his other home, where the Standard American Diet rules.)

I couldn’t be more shocked. I said, “Wow, really?” And she said, “Yeah, my friends like the green smoothies you make and tell me they don’t know what my problem is.”

More evidence that if you stay the course, they often come around eventually. Sometimes the pressure to cave into pop culture’s tastes can be intense. And I’m not saying you have to take up an extremist position. But I really believe that if you just keep on keepin’ on . . . your kids will thank you eventually. You’ll one day see them doing the right thing by your grandchildren!

Posted in: Green Smoothies, Relationships