Trail kids' meals was RE: [at-l] Gear List- food

[ThatSloetoe <sloetoe@yahoo.com>]

--- "L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net> wrote:
> Please don't give in. I have met children like this before and it has
> been my experience that if you  hang tough they will eat ANYTHING
> after missing a meal or two. Being spoiled is NOT stronger than
> hunger. I will admit that a hike is not the best of times to try this,
> but there really isn't a good time.
> > Lee I Joe

### I agree with everything Lee I Joe wrote, but especially the "a hike is
not the best of tiems to try this,..." part. If the kiddies -- whose furnaces
don't hold but maybe an hour's worth of fuel -- don't eat, then *everyone*
pays, as their energy, motivation, receptivity, general demeanor, all get
tanked. Results? Disaster to last a lifetime. So here's two quick
suggestions:

FORGET BIG MEALS; go for two or three smaller ones. Reason? Even if they like
the food, the kids just won't have the ability to put away a giant sized meal
as can an adult. So the "big lunch" you're counting on to hold you all over
for 4-5 hours leaves them short *even*if* they like it and eat a fair amount.
Second reason is, if they *don't* like it, your REALLYYYYY, doubly hugely 
screwed. Third reason to forget big meals is that rather than sitting still
conserving energy whilst you cook/clean-up, kids are generally bouncing
around the campsite (getting purely filthy, burning 100,000 calories, and
demanding your supervisory attention). You could quickly get into a cycle
whereby you never actually *leave* camp, just go between cooking, first-aid,
kid scrubbing, eating, clean-up, more first-aid, more kid scrubbing, new meal
cooking, ..... Quicker meals means you're on the trail quicker, directing
their energy into forward motion. One thing true of a throughhike is
not-uncommonly true of a hike with a smallperson: Take care of the miles, and
the smiles will take care of themselves.

SHARED PAIN, RECRUITMENT, and REBELLION: Lie, if you have to: Tell him that
*you* don't like the meal either; recruit him: ask him if he has got any
suggestions as to how to improve it; ask him what he'd rather eat "next
time"; and above all, remind him that *nobody* gets to eat this stuff who
hasn't *earned* the right to eat their dinner on a log, catching the night
birds' singing through the sunset. Tell him about the 3-second rule, and
remind him of what a rebel he'll be (with regards to Mom & civilized manners)
when he picks up that piece of bread and consumes it. You know the M&M Joke,
right? (Something like: M&M on the trail: dayhiker doesn't even see it;
section hiker carefully steps over it; throughhiker stops to pick it up and
eat it, grateful he didn't have to carry it there) Use it use it use it.

Lastly, mix the go-hungry/don't-get-up-till-done/dessert-bribery thing as
needed, with a clean conscience. Don't be afraid to act on what you know to
be the best gustatory path in the backwoods. As LeeIJoe notes, hunger will
bring anyone around, eventually. If you insist meal#1 be eaten, you may find
your efforts are less required for #2, #3, #4.... until he's asking for
seconds. If you don't make it through 24 hours b/c of dining-whining, neither
of you will know.

Regarding Bail-out: DON'T tell him of the bail-out option. Kids are smart.
Backpacking is stupid. It is a waste of time and energy constructed by and
imposed on adults as a way of escaping the "civilised" lifestyle upheld as
desireable. It is adults' playtime. Kids don't need backpacking to play;
their baser instinct is to play till tired, then stop and rest, then play
again, at something new. Backpacking is anathema to kids' basic behavior:
work, exhaust, eat too much, get up and do it again. For what? Spectacular
scenery is no more fascinating to them than the puddle down the street --
forget about big goals. ("OK, then, what do you suggest?") Either forget
bigperson backpacking thinking by making the hike a walking playtime/nature
lesson, orrrr (over a longer time) inculcate "adult" values into the kids'
equation: miles-for-miles' sake, spiritual/moral/values
journeying/reorientation, reward for the uncommonly-earned view. Know too
that these are NOT mutually exclusive, and may also turn from one emphasis to
another, depending on group energy level, terrain, flora/fauna, mental
orientation.... My kids have seen plenty of littleboy hikes turn into
bigperson hikes into littleboy hikes.

Whoa. This was supposed to be a quickie.
Coosa, you're doing the right thing, your meals look yummy, and you're giving
your grandson quite a gift, although the full measure may not be known for
many years.

You can do anything with kids,
if you just make it play.

=====
Sloetoe

   "Sometimes the light's all shining on me,
    Other times I can barely see.
    Lately, it occurs to me:
    What a long, strange trip it's been."

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