Man and Wife Observe Young Children Eating Real Food
Oceanside, CA — Richard and Beatrice Nikoley began their mid-day Saturday, February 25, with a drive from their AirBNB rental in Oceanside down to “Dog Beach” in Del Mar, about 20 miles down the coast. Their three rat terriers—Nanuka (“Nuke”), Choncho, and Scout—had quite a time of it. “They were so happy,” Richard reports. “Choncho has never been on a beach and was totally beside himself,” he added.
“At times—since this is off-leash—they didn’t know which was more prescient for immediate and thorough inspection: dog butts, or washed-up seaweed. So we let them decide,” Beatrice said.
While exact numbers weren’t measured and so are unconfirmed, the Nikoley’s estimate that Choncho covered four times the distance of everyone else, “since he literally ran circles around everyone during the dog walk, interspersed with dalliances to backtrack in the other direction for the purpose of accompanying certain other dogs he found to his liking, under his near exclusive authority—being off leash,” stipulated Richard, in an obvious effort to show off his vocabulary and word style.
The rest of the story begins with the return to Oceanside and the afternoon dog feeding; at which point, Mr. and Mrs. Nikoley proceeded to have dinner themselves—a crab feast at Joe’s Crab Shack, located at the Oceanside harbor.
They report that they were quickly seated at what they both nonchalantly relate as, “an ideal table right next to the window.” Seated right after, at the next table, was someone who Richard describes as “some 20-something blond girl, attractive and in good shape, sporting many, many tattoos, with two young children…two black kids, a boy and a girl…cute as all hell…about five-ish, both of them.” Mrs. Nikoley confirms that the kids are ‘cute as all hell.’
What happened next is a newsworthy event in terms of the food people order for kids in restaurants. “No, it’s not just ‘newsworthy;’ this is Big News!” Richard insists. “I mean, here you have this tattooed chick coming in for a late afternoon, early evening king crab meal and you think: ‘fuel for the long pole-dancing shift until 1, maybe 2 am.'” He adds: “but the kids. Those two adorable, healthy looking, bright-eyed kids… That what throws you off every time.”
According to the tab, verified through a cooperative Joe’s Crab Shack management only after a crowd had gathered outside on news that young kids were eating real food there, the woman ordered the king crab pot, and for each of the kids, combo-pots featuring crab, shrimp, corn on the cob, and red potatoes. They all opted for the garlic-butter seasoning.
According to Richard, “When I saw the pots being delivered to their table, I immediately assumed the kids’ pots contained the standard fare of deep fried fish sticks and chicken nuggets…and that instead of corn on the cob and red potatoes, it would be a side of mac & cheese.”
“How wrong I was,” he lamented. “It was at that point I see the 5-yr-old boy pull out a shrimp…no, not a breaded, deep fried thing, but a pink, real shrimp with a shell, legs, and a tail. And that little kid went to town on it. Peeled it and ate it.”
“That spectacle continued for a while, up until those kids dove into the crab.” “Did I say ‘cracked crab,’ asshat?” Richard asks me. “No, I didn’t,” answering his own question. “These kids were cracking their own crab with fingers, hands, teeth, and some use of the utensils provided. They were even sucking at the shells.”
“The whole thing came to fruition when the little boy cracked a crab leg and it sent crab juice flying and mom had to duck. Then she looks over at me to see if we got mortared, with a bit of a smile.”
Then, according to Richard, he had the chance to speak to her: “how come you’re feeding these kids real food? Don’t you know you’re supposed to order them the ‘Captain’s Plate?'”
“She smiled again.”
WHAT IT'S ABOUT AND HOW IT WORKS
Free The Animal is an eclectic writing project about everything since November 2003. 23 years, 5,500 posts, 5 million words.
It's a paid membership blog. Most posts are free and public, but only paid members can comment. What determines whether it's free or paid is when I publish. Monday through Friday, free and public. Saturday and Sunday, for paid members. That's it. Membership info here.
Haha.
Richard Nikoley channeling The Onion. Nice.
Now I am SO hungry for King Crab
My favorite is dunngeness, but had a whole one recently. Bea had the half pound dungeness, I had a pound and an quarter of Queen, which I think is the female of what we regard as King. A bit smaller, but way nice and sweet.
Haven’t looked into details of what I just wrote, but sometimes, stories are harmless and I like the sound of it.
I remember kids that age in France scarfing down terrines and pates. American kids would pick at them or spit them out.
The fresh Dungeness is great right now all up and down the coast. Meat packed tight in the shell. I’m always in the market for two pounders this time of year.
Despite my efforts I still have one (out of five) incredibly picky kid who rarely ventures outside of grilled cheese, PB&J, waffles, rice, and fried chicken strips. I’ll give her her prospers for the consumption of broccoli on a regular basis.
All of the others who are of an age to feed themselves will, at least, *try* new foods. I have one that eats calamari and sushi and another that doesn’t balk at foods but at the presentation (prefers all his food separate, no casseroles or sauces on veggies, no soup!). One of my six yos informed me she would no longer eat chicken, pork, or beef because she doesn’t think it’s right to kill them for food. I’m not a strict vegetarian and I didn’t direct her to think this way, she just did. It wasn’t for lack of this tatted up half-a-hippie mom for trying. I let them choose from what’s available, but don’t do short-order cook or cater to tantrums.
Tl;dr kids are picky little fucks and one week they love shrimp and the next they’re on a food strike and the next they’ll only eat yogurt and/or bananas until you feel like you’re the manager of your local zoo monkey house.
Now, I’ve been reading here since 2009 and I think by now I get you a little bit, and I understand your main point here. But goodness and a Dios me, kids are a field of land mines when it comes to feeding and care. Anything, doesn’t matter. I end to fall on the nature side of the argument, where nurture offers only 30-40% of the outcome and then only if applied assiduously and relentlessly and under intense supervision. People gonna do what they want, and they usually know what they want even before the age of consent or majority.
It’s simple; cook real food every day and give what you eat, same to the kids. No appetite? No food until next meal. My wife is Chinese, we both cook and our 6 y old eats everything. And I mean everything, except really spicy. Her favorite is the eyes of big fish. ?
Needless to say , she has never been in a Mc Do. Only problem is the school, food is ok, but too many occasions birth day parties etc where she eats sweets.
Good for you Karl and keep on feeding them fish eyes and I hope they remain adventurous eaters forever.
Yea, I get how it tugs you. I once saw one of those news specials about this. Apparently, there’s a profession that deals with this.
So, this team came into a house where the kids would eat nothing but pizza, hot dogs, burgers…you get the drill.
Three things:
1. Regular meal times, everyone eats together.
2. What is served is served, zero presssure to eat or not eat anything. Not a word, and no praise either.
3. No other food is served or available.
Within two weeks all the kids were eating everything, even stuff like Brussels sprouts and spinach.
Hunger is powerful. Letting kids go a meal or a day or even two with no food, if that is their choice rather than eat what is on offer, won’t hurt them and they WILL be eating what’s on offer soon enough.
As to the silly little vegetarian, she’s a stupid kid. Laugh at her, and tell her that as soon as she gets a job and buys and prepares her own food and cleans up after herself, she can eat what she wants. Until then, she eats what you provide or goes hungry.
Both my kids are garbage disposals, but we make a point to only feed them real food. My 4 year old got around an older cousin a couple months back who eats nothing but PB&J and Mac and cheese. He scoffed at our meal of grilled chicken, black beans and rice, and collard greens. So of course my 4yo decided everything we cook is gross too. Took a solid month of reprogramming. I never cooked him anything special, just told him eat what we have or don’t eat. It amazes me how peer pressure affects the small ones, and how hard headed they are. But at the end of the day I’m the adult – a lot of parents forget that. That same 5yo cousin eats as much candy as he wants and his mom constantly tells him (with a big sigh), “I wish you wouldn’t eat so much candy.”
My mom’s line was “tougher when there isn’t any”. And we all drank our powdered skim milk. But I was the only one who developed a taste for lutefisk. My grandma could overdo the lye and turn it into runny fish jello but it still went down the hatch.
Eat what we serve or get nothing…I like that approach. I’ve never had any kids but when I watched my siblings little monsters for a few days and they were driving me up the wall I found that no amount of stern words, time outs or even a spanking or two (permission given to do so by the parents) worked at all.
The only thing that did work was to take their favorite toys away. Dolls from the niece, video games from the nephew. The more they mouthed off or acted up, the more toys I kept taking.
Got them in line in short order.
Same here. When our kids were growing up we always gave them two choices, take it or leave it.
Wait till you’re old and infirmed. I am guessing your children will give you two choices of aged care – take it or leave it.
At least there’s a better chance the kids will be around at all.
I still remember the first shrimp I ever ate…1968 at Johnson’s on the dock in Cedar Key, FL. I was 5. I peeled and ate an entire half pound of steamed by myself. After my parents showed me how to peel, that is.
Parents laughed for a long time about the reaction of the waitress, who apparently couldn’t believe that such a little kid could not only peel but eat that many shrimp at one sitting. I don’t remember the waitress, but I still remember my dad showing me how to peel and then how good those fresh-off-the-boat shrimp tasted. Umami, baby! I was hooked.
That was very entertaining!
My parents almost never got us babysitters. I remember the first time we went to a fancy French restaurant and had escargot….I was 7. We were also well behaved.
Feed children real food…and they will eat. Even my pup! The breeder sent us home with a bag of his “vet approved” food (kibble!). One meal of whole animal (meat, organs, bone, blood and vegies) and he wouldn’t touch the kibble. :-)
Garlic bread is a gateway drug to escargot.