Milky Way

Having a fifteen year old man-child around the house is hard on a mothers self esteem. Especially if you are a mother who buys ingredients and cooks real food instead of prepackaged junk. Because fifteen year old boys want food, and they want it now! Which means they want prepackaged junk!

It is not uncommon to find the man-child of the family standing in front of a fully stocked fridge or pantry exclaiming "There is nothing to eat!!!!" Translated that means the pantry is fully of ingredients and there is nothing in here that is going to give me the instant gratification my stomach and taste buds want. The man child is not appeased by offers of fruit or other healthy alternatives. He is left to grumble and graze the cupboards unsuccessfully until moving on to homework.

Earlier this week while shopping I grabbed a few candy bars while in a PMS induced funk. Snickers and Milky Ways. Calorie and fat laden little bars of diet wrecking instant gratification. The guilt set in almost as soon as I got home and started unpacking. Almost soon enough to save me from myself. (Almost... I ate one in the car on the way home.) As I stood there unpacking I wondered what had possessed me to by not one but 4 candy bars. And what was I going to do with them now that the guilt had set in?

Tuesday the man-child went off to school with an extra little bit of love in his lunch. Just enough to satisfy his taste buds need for instant gratification. Just enough to make him forget that the rest of his lunch was full of healthy goodness.

I got a text message from the man-child shortly after lunch that read, "You're the best mom!!!" I guess the old saying that the way to a man-child's heart is through his stomach is true! I'm expecting another text today.