Paradigm Shift.

Last night my boys asked me, "What's for dinner, dad?" I cheerily responded, "Spaghetti with meatballs". My youngest son, Thomas scrunched up his nose, and said, "Yuk! Can't we please have something else?"

Now, there are times when my upbringing elicits a Pavlovian response, and certain phrases are sure to trigger one. For instance, when someone says, "I'm done with X..." I always am quick to say, "Cakes are done, people are finished." Or, if you were to ask me to "drive straight ahead", I'll say, "you mean forward, not straight."* I blame my parents for this.

So it is that when one of my boys complain about the food about to be served them, I almost immediately respond:

"You should be happy. There are starving kids in China who would love your meal."

I used this retort on Thomas, but his older brother, Jack, was quick to correct me. "Dad," he said, "most people in China are now rich. They can afford better food these days." This from a nine year-0ld.

The times they are a-changing. Guess it's time to pick on a new, malnourished, underprivilaged country. Better make a call to Sally Struthers.

And you better make a call now to humor-blogs.com.

*I know. It's amazing to me too that I haven't been beat up after uttering these corrections. Guess it's good that I'm 6'4" and 270 pounds, huh?