Miserable? Would
you love some company? Check out our archives
of letters and read Naomi's advice. Find
some poor sucker who's worse off than you;
it will improve your mood.
Dear
Naomi:I lost my beloved mother to
cancer one year ago, and now I'm worried
sick about my father. He's met a "younger" woman
(he's 68; she's 50) who still has teenagers
at home. I happen to know that she is
unemployed and has a mountain of debt. My
dad is talking about moving this woman
and her children into the house he shared with
my mother for nearly 50 years! My dad
is a wonderful, intelligent man. How
can I make him see that his grief over my mother's
death has led him into a relationship with
a gold digger? -- Worried sick in Detroit Dear
Sick in Detroit:Stop worrying. Since
your dad is intelligent, he'll figure out whether
or not she's a gold digger before she spends
your inheritance. Who knows, maybe she'll
make him happy. Won't that be nice? Dear
Naomi:At least once a month, my wife makes
a meal that she knows our 11 year old daughter
Annette hates. If Annette refuses to
east it, my wife makes her sit at
the table until bedtime, and then serves the
meal to her again at breakfast -- so Annette
goes to school hungry. Last night, my
wife made fishsticks and canned asparagus --
I could hardly eat it myself. I love
my wife, and she thinks it's important for
kids to learn to eat new things, and to do
things they don't like to do. I agree,
sort of, but this seems wrong to me. What
do you think? -- Love my wife and daughter
in Beloit Dear man from Beloit:You are
right. This is wrong and you must put
a stop to it at once! Your wife needs
to be reminded that the duty of parenthood
is to nurture a spirit, not to break it. We
do not build character in our children by devising
phony and cruel traps for them. This
is not a mother's job. Life has plenty
of cruel traps without any parental interference. When
people are starving, they will eat what's put
before them. Should Annette encounter
such unfortunate circumstances, she willl eat
fishsticks and canned asparagus; no need to
train her in advance (any more than we need
train our children to survive a gunshot wound
by shooting them). As for introducing Annette
to new foods, I suggest your wife buy a lovely
piece of fresh whitefish, cut it into
bite-size pieces, dip them into flour,
egg and breadcrumbs and saute until crisp and
golden. If fresh asparagus is unavailable,
the canned variety actually makes a decent
soup if pureed and dolled up with some chicken
broth, milk or cream and proper seasoning. A
dollop of butter or sour cream and a sprinkling
of fresh parsley on the top makes it extra
nice. [CHECK BACK, SITE
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