When I was a kid I would look at those variety packs of cereals on the grocer’s shelf and think, “Wow!” They were so attractive. And the idea of slitting open one side of a package of cereal and pouring in your milk and eating it straight from the box sounded very exciting. They had a diagram on the side showing exactly how it was done.
It’s odd what can be inviting and exciting to kids.
Earlier this week H.o.p. suddenly had a fixation on getting the variety pack of cereals. He doesn’t even like cereal, but he saw the variety pack in a movie and wanted it. He figured it would all have to be great. “You know how I don’t like Cheerios any more?” he said. “I bet I’d love these.”
I know H.o.p.’s tastes. “You will hate them,” I said. “You will love the boxes but hate the cereals.”
We purchased a variety pack for him.
He first tried one of the Fruit Loops and spat it out. Then he tried a Cocoa Krispie. And spat that out.
I see no harm in him opening every single box at one sitting and trying it out because I know he’ll hate each one.
He licked a Kellog’s Frosted Corn Flake. “Yuck!” I ate the rest of that box because I like frosted corn flakes but would never buy them for myself and haven’t had them in 25 years.
“Will I like these?” he said brandishing the Corn Pops.
“No.”
By now he trusted me on the matter.
“What about these?” he asked, holding up the Apple Jacks.
“No. You will hate those.”
“What about the Honey Smacks?”
“Hate, hate, hate. You won’t like them.”
“They do look barfable. Like raisins made out of honey.”
“Hmmm, I guess.”
“At least the boxes are fun,” he said.
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