My Gram used to say, “A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” I must say, while this is true, I think a way to his heart, his head, his muscles, and his nervous system is all through his stomach. Food is their everything! When I tell everyone I have three boys they first tell me I’m so blessed, which I couldn’t agree more. Then that is usually followed by, “they’re going to eat you out of house and home one day.” Well, with my oldest, I can see that we’re nearing that.

This kid is CONSTANTLY telling me he is hungry! To the point where he drives my husband and I completely crazy. Ten minutes after having a granola bar and five minutes before dinner he’s acting like he’s going to die of starvation. I have come to realize that food is his motivation. I’ve been finding that if we are playing after school and I say, “it’s time to go,” I am conveniently ignored. However, if I rephrase that with “time to get a snack,” they come rushing over and start heading to the car immediately. What’s up with that? It’s like having dogs. Dangle the treat and they come running!

My youngest brought home a cute little exercise from preschool for Mother’s Day. When answering the question, “What is your favorite thing your mommy does for you?” His answer was, “gives me snacks.” You would think I have these obese kids and I tie a feed bag to them, but I don’t, I swear. They don’t get a snack every time they ask. I just can’t seem to understand why snacks are so high on their list of priorities. Is it a kid thing, or just a boy/man thing?

More recently, I got really tired of asking my children to get dressed for school and get their shoes on a thousand times so we wouldn’t be late. So, I made a new rule. You must be dressed with your shoes on before you can have breakfast (for school days only). At first I told myself I was a horrible mother. What kind of parent am I? But guess what? It totally worked and they didn’t even complain about it. My children get up, get dressed, get their shoes on and then watch TV and eat breakfast! No more asking a gazillion times for them to get ready for school. It’s been pretty fantastic. The promise of food. “Through their stomachs.” Gram was right.