Last night I was at my parent's house with family and the conversation turned to my theories on life and eating. At one point I decided to lead my family in a mindful eating exercise (the one I posted a week or so ago). We each sat down with some apple pie and looked at it, smelled it, tasted it, felt it with our tongues, savored it and swallowed it. At the end of the first bite I asked them to stop for a second, take a deep breath, and make sure they were focused and ready to enjoy the next bite.
I was doing this for the sake of the adults. I didn't think that my children were listening until my 3 year old exclaimed "I don't want to stop. I'm already enjoying it!" I have no doubt that he was! He wouldn't let outside influence keep him from enjoying it. He was savoring it, without any need to refocus his attention on what was in his mouth- He was "already enjoying it!"
Then later as we were talking about the experience as adults, my 3 year old explains, in a very matter of fact tone (as if he is leading others through the exercise) "You chew your food. You swallow. And you don't put your elbow in your food or it will get sticky!"
So if my exercise in mindfulness doesn't do it for you- Try his out!
Well, I made it through my perfect points week! Hip hip hooray! The place where I lose the most points is the eating after 8 PM rule. However, last week I adjusted our eating times to more closely reflect what I determined was my inner eating schedule.
Specifically, I prepared an intentional snack at about 3:30 PM when my oldest got home from school. I determined this was perfect opportunity to sit around the table with a snack and ask him about his day. Then, since we all were satisfied at 3:30, we definitely lasted until 6:30-7 PM for dinner. When we had dinner at 7 instead of 5:30- no one went to bed hungry! I think that is the solution for my family.
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