Chapter 15 - Food stops being evidence
Evan’s dinner anxiety faded gradually.
No miraculous cure.
At first he inspected plates.
Asked whether something was a joke.
Then less.
Dr. Lin helped us create one simple rule:
Food is food.
Not reward for being good.
Not punishment for being difficult.
At home:
You may dislike dinner.
You may say:
“No thank you.”
You may not insult the person cooking.
You may make a simple alternative from an approved list if you truly cannot eat the meal.
No custom restaurant.
No humiliation.
That worked.
One night I made meatloaf.
Evan looked horrified.
“I’m not eating that.”
I almost said:
After everything I cooked—
Stopped.
“Try one bite.”
He did.
“Disgusting.”
“Better word.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Good.”
He made a turkey sandwich.
Life continued.
May you like
I realized how easy it was for adults to make food about gratitude, authority, love, class, toughness, health, identity.
Sometimes dinner needed to be dinner.
