Scene: The famous whistle music of the classic western movie plays in the background as mother and young daughter stand on a dirt road, staring each other down, guns cocked and ready for the other to make a move. Dusty wind blows through their hair and tumble weeds roll and bounce across the space between them. Mother’s thoughts play over the scene: “I will win this stand off with my youngest daughter over taking her vitamins even if my legs are starting to shake and arm is cramping”.
One Month Earlier
Mom and daughter in the kitchen. Mom is holding a bottle of chewable multivitamins:
Quinn: “I don’t like raspberries”
Mom, speaking flatly: “you don’t know that until you try it, Quinn.”
Quinn with a note of attitude: “I do know, mama”
Mackenzie who had been standing by watching the interaction pipes in with a brown-nosing quality to her voice: “I love them Mama!”
Uuuuhhhg, ok, I decided, I’ll play along one time. I agreed they were crunchy vitamins instead of the chewy type of which she was more familiar. Fine. Jacob said he would grab a new kind when he went to the store that afternoon and brought home bear shaped vitamins of the gummy version. Quinn conceded, tried one and immediately spit it out.
Damn our family rule that says one must try something before forming an opinion and if you don’t like it you can spit it out! We need an amendment to that rule that says, ‘except in the case of vitamins’! Over the next week we tried all the typical bribery, but Quinn used savvier methods. She perfected a dramatic gag reflex to powerfully highlight the amount of torture and abuse she was experiencing by our forceful demands of vitamin consumption. “Fine! If you won’t take these then you will need to use your own allowance to buy more and you can pick them out!” (I’ll be honest, I tried one and they were gross but hell if I tell her that)
This new solution seemed to appease her. She bounced home with Jacob one afternoon (I actually don’t think Quinn has another way of walking) and proudly presented her new strawberry and vanilla flavored selection…We only got one willingly down her throat.
Mom, face turning red: “If you don’t take your vitamin, then you don’t get to have treats later in the day and you just don’t know what those will be so you might as well set yourself up for success now”.
Quinn with a power voice: “I don’t want any treats”
Mom with sing-song sarcasm: “Ok, we will see how you feel later”.
We all had milkshakes that evening except her. She appeared unaffected. For the next two weeks we fought with her, pleaded with her, offered rewards, and helped her plug her nose all with about a 50% success rate. Jacob grew tired of the nose plugging drama and told her he wouldn’t help her anymore and into the deep mud she dug in her heels and then poured cement on her feet.
I made cookies the other day (really my purpose wasn’t to torture her, but I secretly hoped it would tip the scales in my favor). She saw me eating one and asked me if it was one of the cookies I had made. “Mmmhmph” I nodded a confirmation with a mouthful of cookie. “humph” she said as she shrugged her shoulders and walked into her room clearly communicating with her body her complete disinterest. Who is this six year old and when did she become a teenager? I was sure to send her the same message back with my own nonverbal communication, but she was already gone. Score one for Quinn. However, it dawned on me that my little one prefers salty treats to sweets. Ha ha ha! This will get her. I have now restricted her fry and chip consumption. No cheese cubes or crackers in her lunch for snacks she gets double helpings of veggies and fruit. She is still unaffected in fact asked if she could pick out new veggies at the store.
Ok, I’ll admit the fact that double veggies in her lunchbox is not a bad side effect of this vitamin showdown but that’s not really the point is it? Jacob is now on her side, begging me to let it go. This morning Quinn said to me, “Mama, did you know there are nine vitamins in each cornflake? I’ll eat those, I love cornflakes”.
Blast! Who taught her how to read? Now I have to take away her books.