Wasting and Bell Peppers; la segunda parte

With this post in mind...

On Sunday, my sibs and I have been *trying* to teach the church kids to finish their food, even if they don't like it.  There are 3 types of eaters:

1. The picky eaters - grab a plate of lunch as a rite and right, but barely eat anything if at all.
2. The semi-picky eaters - have a plate of lunch and eat only what's tasty to them.
3. The miscalculators - grab a big plate of lunch but finish only half, because they're "full", especially if there's dessert to come.

It.

Bugs.

Me.

To.

No.

End.

when people do this!!  Please, at least taste and finish everything on your plate.  If it's too much, say so before you start chowing, perhaps when you're getting your plate.  That way others can eat it, and it doesn't go in the trash!!

I think the parents understand this.  They just don't really go through with what they say about their kids needing to finish their food.

There's one boy who usually finishes his food, and even gets seconds.  But evidently, there are certain veggies he will not eat.  As in, he "wills not" to eat, and not "cannot" eat.  This veggie is called: Green Bell Pepper.  

He pretty much hates it and made fake gagging sounds when he puts it in his mouth.  He had a plate full left of them, because the beef stir-fried with bell-peppers tasted great and he had double portions of that specific dish.  

I felt like I was going overboard, but I made him eat bell pepper.  I mean, it's not like he was my son, but I talked between every bite about why he HAD to finish his food (pretty much what I said in the above post). His mom came by twice to check on him, and I was really scared she was going to either get mad at me for bossing her son around or just say he could throw his food away.

She didn't.  She just quietly told him to finish his food. *shock*

I think he got 5 or 6 pieces down and boy was it struggle.  I went so far as to ask, "If I put ice cream, cookies, dessert, or anything you like, right in front of you, now, would you eat it?  He answered, "Yes," a couple times, which told me he still had room.  

Towards the end though, I showed him a sheet of this.  He willingly read it to do something other than eat, and realized he had to obey.  He pushed down 2 pieces of pepper after that.  

After a while, he really looked full and I ended up "losing the battle" as he didn't finish his lunch... BUT since he'd already eaten a lot of rice before the green pepper episode, I didn't want to explode his stomach, not knowing his limits.  

I forgot what his mom said exactly, but she was very impressed that her son had eaten his bell peppers and encouraged to do even better at home.  *relieved*

Yesterday morning here's the email I got from her:

Hi [CJ and siblings],

I wanted to thank you all for the decent works you have done for all children in our Chinese church.  I am so impressed about how [CJ] made [my son] to eat the green pepper yesterday.  And he was so obedient.  At the dinner yesterday, it was his first time to eat celery dumplings without any complain and ate all I gave to him.  He knew he had to obey to the parents. [My son] has been a very picky eater and don't eat much vegetable.  I never imagined he would eat celery one day.  

You all pass the power of God's words to children heart.  Really give good examples to us how to teach our children.  I am so proud of you.  Thank you and May God continues his works among us.

Blessings,
[mother]

I could live on ^^^that type of writing^^^ for my salary.  ^^^That^^^ is the kind of impact I want to make on the children and their parents.  I've been praying that God would use me mightily and I mean as mightily as He possibly could in the few hours I spend with the kids each week.  This email almost made my eyes watery thinking about how God is faithful.  It seems like I'm learning that alot these days.

~CJ