Mom Tricks

Do you know how little kids can tell you're trying to feed them something healthy?
   You won't tell them what it is until they've tasted it.
   The first time I can remember my mother doing this I was between two and three years old. I know it was then because my little sister had invaded the house, but she hadn't reached her first birthday yet. My mother put some green stuff on my plate - why is it always green? - and I just stared at it, expecting it to do something. I asked her what it was, because it certainly didn't look edible to me, I thought maybe she had gotten my plate and the baby's mixed up somehow.
   "Just try it, you'll like it," my mother said.
   I remember the words specifically, because even to this day as far as I'm concerned that phrase is shorthand for 'I'm tricking you into eating something really, really gross.' And it was zucchini, and it was gross. But because I was three-ish, I didn't really have a choice, I had to eat it. No civil disobedience in my parents' house.
   Little kids are smarter than you think, they know when you're trying to put one over on them, they just don't have the vocabulary to let you know that they know what you're doing. So if you want to really trick little kids, when you try to feed them something healthy, just lie to them. Tell them the grody zucchini is cake and then the next time you really do have cake, maybe they'll think twice before gobbling it down.