We had the privilege of babysitting our grandson the other night and when I arrived, my husband was already there and our son was attempting to feed the now one-year old. We were excited about giving my son and daughter-in-law a “date night”. I thought it a little troublesome that our son was allowing our grandson to walk around and then periodically be coerced to take a bite of food. I wanted to give my opinion about this, like, “you need to put him in his highchair and not let him run around while you are trying to feed him”, but I kept quiet.

After the couple left, I then proceeded to put our grandbaby in his highchair to finish feeding him….well, he did not take too kindly to that and started fussing…I promptly gave him a firm yet loving verbal reprimand and said, “buddy, when it’s time to eat, there’s no running around and it’s gonna be at the dinner table”…he looked at me with pause, relaxed and cooperated with accepting the food.

I know that sometimes parents become exasperated and just give in to keep the peace, but this establishes a dangerous precedent, and these little human beings need to be guided about appropriate behavior and be trained about acceptable parameters…it certainly can be a battle of the wills!

My husband did end up talking to our son about this later, and it was well-received and appreciated…(I think-hehe).

We adore our grandson and would give our very lives for him, so it’s a fine balance of love, guidance, gentle tutoring, and wise molding of this little vulnerable mind. We will be challenged but will certainly have fun!