An apple a day …

When making tea for Joseph and Annabel, M and I always try to find out what Joseph had for lunch – Annabel is easy as it’s written down in her “nursery diary” – so we don’t end up making the same thing, which would be boring. Unfortunately, Joseph usually answers with, “I can’t remember”, which roughly translates as, “move out of the way, I can’t see the television”.

As a result, I have turned the dull “what did you have for lunch today” question, into a more fun guessing game which appears to be working. So as not to alert him to the fact that we just want to know what was on the lunch menu however, I start with breakfast.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and wrinkle my forehead in a “mind reading manner”, and say something like, “Ooh, hang on, I can see it, I know, I know, you had ……. cornflakes!”

Open eyes, look excited and get a yes or a no. Followed with how many slices of toast he had and so on and so forth.

Yesterday, after our game had finished, Joseph said, “I’m not allowed Sugar Puffs at breakfast club”.

“Why not”, I reply.

“I don’t know”, he says, looking at a toy car he’s fiddling with.

“Who says you can’t have Sugar Puffs?”.

He gives the name of one of the staff at breakfast club.

Righty-ho.

Cut to this morning. We get to breakfast club and he stands next to me, a little embarrassed.

I raise the topic of his not being allowed Sugar Puffs (politely; the staff are very nice), and the member of staff in question says, “ooh, yes, that’s right. Because we thought you wouldn’t want him to have anything with too much sugar in, we didn’t allow him to have any”.

I think M’s line of work was mentioned once back when he first started at the club and from that moment, unbeknownst to us, the staff have given Joseph something different to the rest of his friends at breakfast.

“No”, I said. “If others are having a certain cereal, then please don’t deny Joseph the same if that’s what he wants. Probably the only cereal which is off menu is Coco-Pops but I’m sure you don’t serve them that right?”

“No, we don’t”, she replied.

Slight pause.

“Except when it’s someone’s birthday and then we like to give them a little treat. But don’t worry, we haven’t been giving him Coco-pops on children’s birthdays either!”

And he has never once mentioned it, until now.

I mean, neither M nor myself want him to eat chocolate covered cereal for crying out loud. It’s common knowledge that sugar and children’s behaviour just don’t mix, but to think he’s been having a boring old Weetabix while watching his friends tuck into something chocolatey is ……….. well ………. a bit heartbreaking.

I turned to tell him that it was sorted, just in time to see him scoffing the last of his banana, the skin of which he dutifully gave me, before flashing me a smile and then digging into his pockets for his two matchbox size Lightning McQueen cars and crouching down to whizz them across the floor to a friend.

Cereal and chocolate.

Honestly!