Plastic rainbow-colored dishes, bowls and cups from IKEA . That’s what my kids use to eat and drink from these days. Right now, they are shamelessly out in the open for all to see. In the future set-up, I’d like to conceal all the kids dishware in an accessible drawer and all that chaos will be hidden from view. I have no desire to continue looking at rainbow plates cluttering up my shelves.
When I was growing up, my mother had the family use china from almost day one. I don’t ever remember eating off of a plastic plate, or a paper plate for that matter. That woman even used “real plates” on pizza night! I wonder if that would work in my family dynamic today? Can my 6 and 3-year-old boys eat off of porcelain plates without any disasters? I suppose they could… There will most definitely be a few broken and chipped plates, but I could teach them to use the real stuff.
“You must gingerly place these plates into the sink when you are done.”
Do I want to say these words and deal with all that right now on top of all the other things? Quick answer: No, I don’t. I didn’t even have to ponder that one.
It’s too easy to just bust out a plastic plate that I don’t care about and fling it frisbee style at my kids. On pizza night, I just scrape the crusts into the trash and throw those shitty plates into the dishwasher at the end of a long week… Yea, I’m not changing the system for now. So for a while longer, no-spill sippy cups and plastic rainbow plates for me and my kids.
“GOHAN DEKIMASHITAYO-! plastic NO OSARA O DASHITÉ KUDASAI!” (“Dinner is ready! Get the plastic plates out!”)
-K