Like It or Not

I found my sister telling her daughter (my niece) that her choice in food is askew. You see, my sister's been pushing my niece into trying certain vegetables. One of my sister's favorites is this awfully bitter gourd that she sautes with ground meat (the quantity of the vegetable surpassing that of the meat.)

My niece is not a fan of bitter tastes. She's just thirteen. A child still who's tastes are of course naturally picky. And to be fair, she had tried the said vegetable cooked by her mom a couple of times (once was not enough because sometimes annoying mother overruled the unwanted flavors.)  And she eats other vegetables too so I can't say she's too picky. It's just that some things agree to her tastes more than others. I saw how my niece would eat less than she normally would, not even finishing a quarter of a plate because she did not like the flavor.

She complained over and over but my sister kept pushing her. My niece eats other vegetables as I've mention and I asked my sister to maybe try cooking the vegetables my niece would gladly eat. It is not sacrificing nutritional value because there were others more nutritious than the bitter gourd. My niece had gladly researched the fact that her mom's favorite vegetable lacks in nutrition compared to her choices. Seeing as my niece's argument was getting nowhere, I interjected with a simple question addressed to my sister. "What foods don't YOU like to eat?"

She had a list but focused on this leafy vegetable that she had once seen a worm crawl on when she was younger. Since then she didn't even consider that the cooked version was probably worm-free. But still she was adamant that nothing in the world could make her eat it.

And so I say, "If YOU don't like that vegetable and won't eat it, then you should not make your daughter eat a vegetable that she also does not want to eat."

She didn't even give a pause to think over what I said and just kept spouting nonsense saying that what she wants her daughter to eat should be her choice, like her favorite vegetable.

I couldn't really argue with someone as closed minded as her. And no, I'm not really shaming my sister, only pointing out that her behaviour at that moment wasn't called for. I understand she wants something nutritious for her child. But I also understand that making that child eat something she is not particularly inclined to will affect her diet - mainly with her eating less. And this is a recurring argument in their household.

I have no children of my own yet. And I know spoiling them is wrong. But is it really worth pushing the things you like unto a person who is NOT you. This case does not only apply to my sister and her daughter but with others as well. So long as you do not force people into going crazy over the things you like, they have no right to force their likes unto you. And if you are the type of person who gets mad because your friend does not like the things you do as much as you thinks they should even after they've tried them, think of your friend's weirdest likes that you don't want to try and be glad they are not as pushy as you had been with them.