My Children's Crock Pot Revolt!

Finally, my first teaching job! Like most new teachers, I was beyond excited to begin. One thing, however, that was causing me great anxiety was handling dinner for my family. It's not like I was a great cook before returning to work, but at least I had the luxury of time on my hands to experiment. Usually, something eatable would miraculously find its way on the table and I never was reported to Social Services for starving my three young boys (at this time they were 9, 7, and 4 years old).

So what now? How was I to manage a job AND be expected to cook as well? I momentarily daydreamed of having my own entourage - for my home: a chef, maid & chauffeur and for my classroom: a personal secretary, playground duty attendant, maid, barista, masseuse.... OK the classroom list actually is my current wish list!

My mom suggested that I try the crock pot. Well, I did get one as a wedding present way back when......so, an APB bulletin went out for the long lost cock pot. The boys were no help, as they didn't even know what a crock pot looked like - (were they in for a surprise!) After a couple of days of digging around in the garage, the pot was located!

I bought a small, easy dinner crock pot recipe book and never looked back! The first week went off without a hitch - with dinner that is. My classroom? Well, that's another Hub! Anyway, I could hardly wait to place the magic ingredients into the pot each morning and absolutely LOVED coming home and being enveloped by such delicious smells each night!

As I became more proficient with the basic functions of the crock pot things got really fun! I started with simple dishes like: crock pot chicken and rice, honey mustard chicken, and, numerous beef/chicken/port stews! Before I knew it, I bought three more crock pot cookbooks and was putting together all kinds of crock pot concoctions! Venturing out, I experimented with Tortellini With Sausage, Chicken Lasange, Lemon Ginger Crock Pot Chicken, Kaula Pork, Chipotle Pork Tinga Tacos and, even..... Lava Cake!

Well, just as I was thinking that I was, surely, the smartest working mom in the entire world, I experienced a crock pot crisis! My family had consumed two months of crock pot dinners and decided they'd had enough. As I called everyone down to dinner one night, my oldest son, Thomas stood defiantly with his two younger brothers behind him and announced, "I'm going to Jonathan's for dinner - his mom cooks real food". Initially, I thought I'd misunderstood him - did he say he wanted to invite Jonathan to dinner? No? I found myself at a loss for words (this doesn't happen often)! How ungrateful could my children be? I'm providing them with a healthy, delicious dinner every single night and they don't even appreciate it! Of course, I looked around for my husband to come to my aid only to find him standing right behind the boys......in agreement! Overwhelmed with both anger and hurt my mind swirled with a comeback.

As a teacher, I'm always on alert for "teachable moments" so, I quickly turned this revolt into one of my best teachable moment ever! Those of you who have read my earlier hub, "My School & My Students", know that I teach at an at-risk elementary school. Our school serves free breakfast, lunch AND dinner to students every day. Lucky me - the revolt came at just the right time. If we hurried, we'd just make it to my school in time for dinner! I threw the kids in the car - no opposition here, as they were convinced that I felt so bad that I was taking them on a McDonald's run!

Confusion set in as we entered my school's parking lot - I stayed mum. As I led the boys into the cafeteria, they started to get it. They were here for dinner! My oldest son was shocked into silence; my middle grabbed a tray and got right in line; and my little one - well, he was just along for the ride. As I walked them through the line, they noticed the other students they were getting ready to dine with; they ranged from little kindergardeners to high school students (anyone enrolled in school, under the age of 18, are eligible to eat for free). No whining was heard - just polite kids waiting their turn in line for dinner. As we got closer to the front of the line, my oldest turned and said he would rather eat at home. I stood my ground and the boys dined at school that night for the first time. They ate in silence and I didn't even have to ask them to eat everything on their tray, they just did.

After that night - there was a compromise. I agreed to only use the Crock Pot once a week, and they agreed that eating at home - even crock pot meals, really wasn't that bad after all! We talked at great length about the reality of so many kids, right here in our town, that eat not just dinner, but all three meals at school! My boys were surprised and saddened by this fact and, even my youngest, seemed to register a sense of gratefulness. This was confirmed when we sat down later that week for dinner. My oldest, Thomas said, "We're pretty luck aren't we?"

Lesson learned!