On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:30:50 -0500, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

>I'm starting to notice something disturbing with the parents of some of
>the older kids. Sometimes the kid will be in the 11-12-13 year old
>range. The parents are right there. I'll offer the cheese to the
>parent first. (I don't too much care if I serve men or women first, but
>I'm careful to serve elders before young folk. This isn't a rule of the
>store, but it works for me.) Sometimes the parents will offer to the
>kids, and that's fine. But sometimes the parents will let their kids
>talk to me directly about anything else, but when it comes to food, they
>answer for the children. As in, the kid will smile and act like he's
>considering taking a taste, maybe a little reticent but not turning it
>down, and the parent will say "he doesn't like it," or "you don't like
>that." WTF? Now THAT'S a control issue.

I notice that with guests. Parents will come with their child, I put
on the table the dish I have prepared (let's say, for the sake of
discussion, that it's marinated shrimp), parent will turn to the child
and say "You don't like shrimp". And the same people will complain
about their child's fussy eating.... ahem...
I'm a mean host in those cases. I won't offer anything alternative
unless the parent asks (partly because I'm leaving the education part
to the parent), and then, it will be bread, yogurt, fruit, ready
stuff. I'm not a short-order cook.

Nathalie in Switzerland