Keeping Pop and Honest Man

One of my favorite recent advertisements is the one with children coming up with ingenious ways to get rid of food that they don't like and don't want to eat. The ad shows several clips of these adorable kids each one doing his/her own version of disposal. The one that I enjoyed the most was a little dark haired boy who puts his portion into his toy dump truck that is sitting by his plate and then rolls it away. Runner up is the kid who feeds the dog under the table. I haven't the slightest recollection what the ad is about, which causes me to question the value of advertising, but the kids and the concept are sure cute.

Sometimes at meal time Pop reminds me a lot of those kids. I am assuming that somewhere along the way, as a child I would guess, his parents must have ingrained in him that wasting good food was a NO, NO. Often when I have prepared more then he wants to eat, or something that he doesn't want to eat, rather then telling me I will see him very discreetly roll the remains up in a napkin. Forgetting that I am a mother and I have eyes in the back of my head, he will quietly get up from the table, walk by the garbage can and sort of slip the wad into the garbage or sort of give it a side toss as he glides by, assuming that I won't see this sly maneuver.

If at any particular meal I see things moving in this direction, I have learned to beat him to the punch and ask him what he would like to do with the remains. Which ever suggestion I make, save it or toss it,"Oh, yes, yes," will come the response. "Yes, yes," can mean, "Dispose of that wretched excuse of a meal right away before I throw up." Or it can mean, "I enjoyed it so much I hate to see it go to waste. So put it into a container for me to finish tomorrow." My father has learned tact over his many years and I have learned that I have to discern the real meaning of his tactful, "Yes, yes," because he is not going to come clean with his true feelings. By going through this little exercise, I figure I am at least helping to keep him and honest man.