i'll be your friend

One of the least glamorous parts of my job is having to do getting to do lunch duty.  I mean, what is more fun than watching 6 year olds eat cafeteria food??  In addition to opening up ketchup packets and cleaning up spilled water, I feel like I spend most of my time persuading them to eat their food ("Just take a few more bites!") and THAT.GETS.OLD.

Let me tell you a story...

When I mentioned persuading them to eat their food, there is one little boy in particular who comes to my mind.  This first grader is VERY picky and never seems to like any of the food he gets from the cafeteria. He recently has gotten a little better about trying new foods and he even started telling me when he has eaten some ("Miss Akins, I ate four bites!").  But for some reason, the hamburger today made him revert back to his old picky self.  He sat at the lunch table for about 15 minutes refusing to eat any of his burger.

We had about 10 minutes left of lunch when another first grader sitting across the table from Mr. Picky excitedly called me over to their table.  It was pretty obvious this kid had a big announcement for me.

"Miss Akins, he is eating the hamburger!"

"Oh, wow!  What do you think of it? Do you like it?"  (Picky nods)

"I got him to eat it!  I told him I would be his friend if he would try to eat some of his hamburger... and now he likes it!"

Aww... positive peer pressure works! :D