It's As Simple As This

Here I am, teaching nutrition to a wonderful group of children, ages 4 to 12 years old. I volunteer every Wednesday night to be with my cuties. Tonight, we would steer clear of baking (the peanut butter and jelly muffins last week were almost a complete disaster) and concentrate instead on raw veggies and dips.

I walked into the room, where a Disney movie was in play, shut it off, and asked who would help me unload my goodies. I was ignored. Okay, who's going to be the first to wash hands. I continued to be ignored.

Not easily discouraged, I unloaded everything and with the assistance of the staff, set each child off one at a time to wash hands. When they returned, I went from one child to the next asking for help in mixing the dips together. Nope, they wouldn't budge. Finally, the little ones couldn't contain their curiosity and came to stick their fingers in all the dip bowls. Disgusting, but you gotta take participation where you can get it.

Then it happened. Table swarm. Next thing I knew the cucumbers and carrots were being polished off, while one brave little boy dipped and re dipped his one celery stick in the communal peanut butter bowl. I'm pretty sure the stains will come out of his shirt.

The children were completely engaged. I held up the food pyramid chart and the kids pointed out all the food groups we had eaten from. Then we decided on next week's menu, taken from the two food groups we missed this time around.

The Holy One presented me with an hour of pure joy tonight and I have to acknowledge it. It's as simple as that.