One of the most endearing characters of my childhood was Cookie Monster who, not surprisingly, is one of the characters that Angel picked up early on. Who can forget the blue furry monster who devours cookies with such passion. (Of course I always have to remind Angel that on the dinner table, it’s Elmo I want to see and not Cookie Monster.) But this is not about the real Cookie Monster but someone who eats and forages for food in the fridge or in the kitchen and gobbles up everything without regard for anyone else. I guess he figures, someone will replace what he ate. Forget that the food was bought with the other members of the household in mind.
I do my groceries weekly because I want things fresh, and I don’t really plan that far ahead. Since I commute to and from work, I don’t really mind having to stop by the grocery on the way home to pick an item or two for the evening meal. When I buy food, I always count everyone, even if the stepson has taken to not eating with us when we sit down for meals as a family. He’s like a rat who starts foraging for food late at night when everyone else is asleep. I do buy special food for Angel and my mother-in-law — apple juice and goldfish crackers for the boy and yoghurt for the mother-in-law — but for the most part, I buy everything with the family in mind.
So when I buy fruit for Angel, I buy a whole box of strawberries and at least a pound and a half of cherries. I buy a gallon of milk for everyone, and even when I buy soda, I buy diet softdrinks which is what Alan and I drink, and regular soda for the stepson. I always count everyone, and I would rather have more than less — so sometimes, we end up with an extra piece of chicken or a larger steak which we eat in the next meal or which I recycle.
I had written some time ago about how I hate it when the gallon of milk “disappears” and I have to lug a new gallon on the way home. I don’t mind the stop at the grocery, but a gallon jug of milk is quite a strain on the arm. It’s not even the expense. But you’d think that whoever consumes the milk would be mindful of the fact that the little boy eats his cold cereal or oatmeal in the morning which both need at least a cup of milk, and that people do drink coffee with a hint of milk with their breakfast. I bought strawberries and cherries yesterday, and tonight they were all gone. Amen. It wasn’t that he had some of it. It was that he had all of it.
I don’t know about you but I was raised in an environment where sharing is the norm. I grew up the eldest of three children, and while we always had more than enough to go around, I admire my Mom for instilling in us the value of modesty and prudence. We always saved some for the next day — never giving in to the temptation of eating everything in one sitting as if there was no tomorrow. We were always taught to think of the other members of the family, so as we grew older, we would buy pasalubong not just for one or two, but for everyone. When others sat down to eat a meal ahead of someone who had yet to get home, we saved some of the food for whoever it was who hadn’t eaten yet.
That’s why we’re trying to teach Angel that in our house, the rule is we share with the family. While we know he has his things and his food, those are not just for him to use alone — they are to be shared.
Pinay New Yorker 