Madeline
Posted By pamelamyers on September 1, 2017
I have been meaning to post about this particular topic for a while, and just never got around to it, so, here it is. A while ago, when Sam and I were in Michael’s, she spotted a doll that she wanted in the worst way. She begged and begged to have it and I told her that it was way too expensive for a spur of the moment little gift. After much going back and forth, I told her I’d buy it, but she could only have it after a sufficient amount of time NOT coming into our bed at night. She asked how long, and I told her a month. She looked really sad and told me it was too hard and she couldn’t do it. I told her that was the deal. As we walked the store, I had another idea. I told her that she could have the doll if and only if for an entire week, she ate anything and everything I asked her to eat, no complaints. I wasn’t going to make her a whole meal of food she didn’t like, but if I put foods on her plate to try, she had to eat the amount I gave her, with no exception. Everything. Anytime I asked. She surprisingly agreed.
We started our experiment right away and, although she did not like most of the foods, I gave her, she realized that a lot of things were not half bad. I don’t know that she’d ask for them again, but she found out that trying new things is not going to kill her. By the end of the week, she was actually asking me for new foods to try and asking me to buy things in the supermarket that intrigued her. Hallelujah!!!!
She tried: cherries, cheese quesadillas, ranch dressing, Mexican rice, fried mozzarella, chicken fingers (not from McDonald’s or Chick-fil-a), BBQ sauce, rotisserie chicken, chicken cutlets, roasted potatoes, blackberries, cantaloupe, plums, celery, strawberries, cran-cherry juice, breaded chicken, pistachios, apricots, and Lucky Charms cereal.
Needless to say, she earned her doll, whom she named Madeline. I did tell her that if I noticed a sudden drop off in her willingness to try new food, Madeline was going away for a while and wouldn’t be returning until things got on track again. That this doll signifies a reward for her willingness to change her attitude, her growth. Let’s hope it sticks. So far so good!
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Who doesn’t like cherries 🍒