The other night was just one of those nights. Pick up kids from school. Go to bank. Pick up milk. Race home. Feed kids. Get back in car. Pick up daughter from practice. Go to parent meeting. Race like a madwoman from one place to the next.
Now, I knew the schedule beforehand. I knew it would be tight. I also knew that the parent meeting would be right in the middle of dinner hour and would probably run longer than expected. And wouldn’t you know it, my husband had to work late.
We had plenty of leftovers in the fridge. And that’s when the lightbulb went off.
“Guess what boys? It’s opposite day. And today we’re going to have dinner for snack and snack for dinner!”
“Huh?”
“Today, when we get home we’re going to eat dinner for your afterschool snack. And then after mommy’s meeting we’re going to come home and have any kind of cereal you want for dinner!”
“ANY kind?”
“Yes.”
“Can we have Cocoa Puffs?”
“Yes.”
“Or Lucky Charms?”
“Yes!”
“Mom! You’re the BEST!”
You see, we don’t eat sugared cereal for breakfast – at least not on my watch. The sugared cereal is reserved for snack after school or for dessert. They were practically racing into the house to put away their jackets and shoes. They washed their hands at record speed and hurried to the table for their ‘snack.’ I heated up the leftovers and they ate heartily. I smiled at my brilliance.
We picked up my daughter. She watched the boys while I attended the parent meeting for her team. And then we went home.
“Can we have a really, really big bowl?”
“Sure!”
“Thanks, Mom! I can’t wait to tell my teacher I had Lucky Charms for dinner!”
Uh-oh.
I didn’t think of that.
And then I remembered the Bill Cosby skit about chocolate cake for breakfast.
Enjoy your Friday funny!
Theycallmejane's Blog 
I’ve never had Lucky Charms or Coco Puffs cereal, can you believe that?
Gosh I’ve never heard Bill Cosby doing stand-up comedy before. His delivery is *so* like Dave Allen that I was even picturing Dave Allen while listening. 🙂
I smiled at your children saying they’d tell the teacher about their wonderful Mum giving them Lucky Charms for dinner. Aaaarrrrggh! So funny and I recognise this, having walked into a fair few traps inadvertently set by myself over the years! 🙂
I love breakfast for dinner…pancakes, bacon or Corn Pops! I think this might be my menu tonight! Thanks for the domestic inspiration!
I get it! I totally do!
You are brilliant, and I loved relistening to Cosby’s chocolate cake scene. I remember this.
Bill Cosby is one of the last of the great comedians of our day! His routine about chocolate cake was funny the first time, and is much funnier now that I’ve been through the “feeding kids” era.
Don’t forget Fruit Loops and Captain Crunch. Also great contenders for dinner. 😉
Hands down, greatest comedy show of all time. I’ve seen hundreds, I love stand up comedy, and Bill Cosby, Himself, is the one I compare them to.
We wanted eggs! And bacon! And he made us eat chocolate cake!!
I have to admit that I regularly let my kids have a ‘treat’ along with breakfast – (1) because they eat an insane amount at breakfast (a frozen waffle or cup of oatmeal, 3 links of turkey sausage, a cup of fruit, 8 ounces of milk, a cup of yogurt, a cereal bar, and a half-a-banana) and (2) because I would rather they burn off the sugar throughout the day instead of late in the afternoon/evening. I though it just made me practical, but I suppose it makes me a bit cool as well! I’ll take what I can get.
Whenever I earn a “mom you’re the best,” my husband goes into this skit! Classic!
I think you are super smart to have thought of this ahead of time instead of winging it. One advantage to not doing the sugar cereal on a regular basis is what a treat it is! My 15 year old still feels this way.
We do this sometimes but with pancakes or eggs for dinner. I love this Cosby routine.
Too funny! I love that Bill Cosby skit. It just so happens that I am reading this post right after breaking down and letting my four year old have a peanut butter cup after breakfast. At 8:30 in the morning. I rationalized it was peanut butter after all. What a crazy coincidence!! I feel better now, so thanks!
I love this. Nothing like flexibility in parenting. Then again, this is coming from the mom who lets her two-year-old eat pretzels for breakfast and subsist 90% of the time on chocolate milk. Happy to have found your site; thanks so much for your comment on mine!
You know, one of your kids is going to grow up and write a memoir and mention their favorite childhood memories being one of these: “leftover days” and now “opposite days”. By the way, I am stealing all your great parenting ideas. 😉
That’s awesome. My kind of mom…or the kind I hope to become 🙂
That is such a GREAT idea!