Children's View Of The Food Pyramid.

Children tell it like it is !

In Tuesday's English Conversation group, we have a future artist. He may be only five now, but he paints like no other five year old. Each time he sits and ponders what he might draw and then proceeds to draw it with ingenuity, determination and talent.

He already has a loyal follower. His best friend ( she too is a wise five year old ) usually tries to copy his themes. It is heart warming to watch how at times he helps her or other times corrects some of her lines. Now and again he paints a picture for me to keep. Naturally, I make him sign it there and then !

Yesterday he chose to draw the food pyramid. You know, the different layers of what is healthy to eat, what should be eaten less often and on the apex the no-no's. Oh yes, it was a strange topic, but I think it was taught this week by the kindergarten teacher. If they had only told me at that age, I might have had less fillings !

While he was drawing it ( with his faithful shadow copying him ), I asked him about the various placement of food items. Straight off he told me with a wagging of his finger, that ice-cream and chips, which he had rightly squeezed onto the top layer, are a ' NO-NO '.

Yet the two of them proceeded to have a heated discussion over where to draw yoghurt in their respective food pyramids ! Eventually they settled on plain yoghurt being the thing to have...Great kids, aren't they ?

Looking at the food pyramid, I noticed that he had drawn a bottle on the middle layer. When I asked him about it, he told me: " This is a bottle of wine ". You must remember, that we live in the midst of a wine growing area, with almost everyone ( including his Dad ) producing wine.

One of the older girls ( seven years old yet wise beyond her years ), had been listening. She quickly leaned over to him and told him that he was wrong. It always amazes me how it seems that they pay no attention, yet they hear everything.

" Wine must be on the bottom layer ". When he asked " why ", he got a great answer from her :
" Grapes are a fruit and fruit must be eaten every day. Silly, wine is made from grapes ! " ...Children tell it like it is !

Biggi