We are actively deceiving our two-year-old daughter and my guilt is getting the best of me. The area of deception centers around food – specifically on “ice cream.”
Last night I heard her saying “green ice cream, I want green ice cream for dinner.” Imagine my surprise when I heard her say, with glee, “green ice creeeeeeaaammmmm!!!” Livvy rarely, rarely gets ice cream. The closest thing she gets are homemade fruit pops. So I was wondering what was going on but was on deadline to finish a couple projects and couldn’t check out the situation for myself.
Later I learned what had happened.
When Livvy just began eating food, Kim pureed bunches of vegetables and fruits together. Some of it was pretty standard baby stuff – carrots and squash, peas and beans, etc. But some of it was a little more intense – spinach, kale, and brussels sprouts (together), for instance. She put the purees into ice cube trays to be thawed and heated for later consumption.
The child ate them for a long time and though she has long since graduated to solid foods she still gets them mixed into her apple sauce. The poor child doesn’t actually know how good plain old apple sauce tastes.
Last night something clicked and she saw a tray of the stuff and decided that since they were cold and like ice they just might be… ice cream. And so my poor daughter now thinks those green cubes of spinach, kale, and brussels sprouts are ice cream.
I am paralyzed by guilt. I am sure this will come up in therapy years from now. What would Solomon say of such actions?