Getting Real With Wanda Morrissey

I’m the member of several online mom communities, and every now and then I see discussions over whether or not  sneaking veggies into children’s meals is deceitful. Me, I’m a huge fan of sneaking veggies into meals and don’t see it as being deceitful. What I can gather from the various debates that I’ve read about, I’m in the majority, but there is a very vocal group of moms who believe that sneaking veggies is lying to our kids.

I’m drawn to these debates like a moth to a flame because I keep hoping that someone can give me a good reason why sneaking veggies is a lie. It hasn’t happened yet. Most of the moms who are anti-sneaking believe that it is a lie of omission. Because the child isn’t told there are veggies in there, that makes it a lie. I have two responses to this: 1) I don’t provide an ingredient list along with supper and 2) how can it be a lie if I’m not asked if I’ve sneaked veggies into the meal. My point is this; when I’m asked, ‘What’s for supper?’ my reply will be ‘Lasagne‘, for example, not ‘Noodles layered with meat, sauce, cheese and I pureed carrots and put them in the sauce.’

Then there are the moms who pull out the ‘traumatizing’ card. These moms maintain that when children find out that they’ve been lied to about veggies being in their meals that they’ll never be able to trust again. They believe that when kids do discover they’ve been hiding veggies in meals that kids will be traumatized when they learn the truth. I don’t even know how to respond to that argument. I think these moms are a little overdramatic. Traumatized by pureed veggies? How emotionally fragile are these kids?

The best argument I’ve seen yet is the mom who said sneaking veggies goes against the Ten Commandments, in particular the 9th commandment – Thou shalt not bear false witness unto thy neighbour or, more commonly, Thou shalt not lie. This mom flat out condemned the veggie sneaking moms to hell because we were breaking the commandments. Now, I don’t want to offend anyone, but I really doubt the Lord was talking about hiding a few vegetables when He wrote that commandment. How can making sure my child is getting the proper foods be a sin?  No one has been able to answer that question to my satisfaction.

I make light of the whole argument but some take it seriously. I honestly don’t see the problem with sneaking veggies into a meal. I think it’s a great way to get extra nutrition into a meal and not just for my son but for my husband and I as well. I also think it’s a great way to get an extra serving of vegetables for myself. In my opinion it’s a win – win situation.