Marketing

I had a revelation this morning: parenting is all about good marketing! While Chloe was persistently asking for "more choo-choo" for her toothbrush, I thought, "Oh, what a wonderful child to be so concerned about dental hygiene." Umm... yeah right. She hated brushing her teeth until the glorious day I discovered children's starter toothpaste that doesn't contain floride and the outside is decorated with Thomas the Tank Engine (one of her favorite characters besides Paddington and The Gingerbread Man). Immediately after buying the toothpaste and bringing it home, she had to try it out! She has been in toothpaste and toothbrushing heaven ever since. Without the "choo-choo" she refuses.


Another example of good marketing has been in the eating category. C has never been a great eater. The word "picky" does not do the girl justice. For a long, long time the only foods she would eat were bread, cheese, and almost any type of fruit. Yup, that's it. I didn't have the chance to take pictures of my child with food all over her face because she didn't eat anything messy. Last week, I decided to make the girls mac & cheese. What kid doesn't like mac & cheese? B (C's BFF) loves mac & cheese and that is why I bought it in the first place. Obviously, until this blessed day, Chloe had NEVER eaten pasta of any kind. She refused. She stuck out her tongue so the food would slide off. She closed her mouth so tightly, I thought her lips would turn blue. But this day was different. The pasta was in the shape of Scooby-Doo. There were dog bone shapes in the pasta! How cool is that? After pointing out this fact and chanting the kids rhyme, "Doggie, doggie, where's your bone? Somebody stole it from your home," Chloe actually took a bite! I almost cried I was so excited! My daughter ate pasta! She ate something that normal people eat all the time! All it took was pasta in the shape of doggie bones and then she took a bite.
Marketing. Fun stuff she likes. Then, maybe she will be more apt to try new things. Maybe.