Every now and then I realize I've failed to teach my children one of "the little things". As a homeschool Mom, I'm fairly well focused on "the big things". But "the little things" just keep sneaking up on me.
Recently, I realized I'd failed to teach one of "the little things" to my oldest daughter, nearly 11. I thought we'd covered it a couple years before, but apparently it was a lesson my 2nd daughter (then 7) learned and the oldest daughter ignored.
How to eat sunflower seeds. My daughter, A, came home from a friend's house and was telling me she'd been given barbecued sunflower seeds. (Later she realized they were just salted, but not barbecued.) She was telling me that her friend told her she wasn't supposed to eat them, just suck on them.
This confused me, as I'd never heard of barbecued sunflower seeds you suck on, but don't eat. As she talked about having to spit out the chewed up shell because she couldn't swallow them, I realized what had happened.
Her friend gave her sunflower seeds, still in the shell. She chewed them up and then her friend realized she was eating the shells. So her friend told her not to eat the shells, just to suck on them. So A proceeded to suck on and spit out the entire seed, shell and all.
At this point, I had to giggle as I imagined A thinking what a weird snack this was ... and her friend wondering why A wasn't eating the sunflower seeds. Both feeling awkward and trying to ignore the other person's peculiarities. Both too polite to say anything about it. Both continuing on, as they were ... without A realizing she was still doing it wrong.
Thankfully, I had a package of shelled seeds in the cupboard. So, I explained to A, and then showed her, how to use her teeth to open the sunflower seed (after sucking on it). Then how to spit out the shell and eat the seed. Aha!!
Now, I thought she had caught this lesson when I taught it to her younger sister 2 summers ago when we visited their Aunt and Uncle in Texas. But apparently she was in her own little world and not noticing the conversation around her. So, now I've had two daughters try to eat the sunflower seeds, shell and all. And I've had to teach the lesson twice.
This time, though, I made sure that the younger two learned the lesson at home. Now, the oldest four all know how to eat sunflower seeds. Hopefully, we won't forget to teach this "little thing" to the youngest two when they're old enough.
I wonder what other "little things" I'm forgetting to teach them.
