As Seen on the Package...

I took the boys to Costco last week and Tanner and Ethan both picked out a box of cereal. Ethan picked Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Tanner needed help to decide. I told him he had to pick Cheerios and I kept pointing to the Honey Nut box. He went along with my idea at first, but then he changed his mind and went for the plain Cheerios. I asked him if he was sure he wanted plain cereal because they weren't as sweet as the other kind. He said yes. Later in the week we opened up the Cheerios box because the boys had obliterated the Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Tanner asked "Where are the strawberries?" I told him there weren't strawberries in Cheerios. Then he pointed to the box and said, "Yes mom, it's supposed to have strawberries in it!" It suddenly dawned on me that he only wanted the plain Cheerios because he saw the strawberries on the box. He thought it was like the Special K cereal with the freeze dried strawberries. He would only eat the freeze dried strawberries and not the flakes, so I refuse to buy it anymore. I had to explain to Tanner that the strawberries on the Cheerios box were just a decoration. He was grumpy and didn't want to eat them. Well, today we made our weekly trip to Costco. This time, I found these awesome whole-grain chicken nuggets in the shape of Mickey Mouse ears. I thought "Score one for momma 'cuz the boyz are going to love this!" Well, Tanner announced that he didn't want them. I told him that he did because they were in the shape of Mickey. He repeated that he did not and I told him I didn't care because I was going to buy them anyway. Well, I pushed the cart a little further and he noticed the grapes that were in the picture on the nuggets package. He told me he wanted the grapes. I asked him if we should buy grapes to eat with our chicken nuggets, and suddenly he was excited about them. So, we marched off to the fruit isle. While we were picking up the 'green grapes' (we couldn't do purple grapes because that wasn't what was in the picture; trust me, I asked), I found strawberries. I asked Tanner if he would like strawberries with his Cheerios and he cheerfully responded "Yes!" Now I know how crafty those packaging creators really are. Evil! Too bad strawberries and grapes aren't unhealthy foods. I could have gotten away with not buying them. Those grapes were so crisp and yummy. I wish buying fruit at bulk places meant I wouldn't run out as quickly. My boys just love fruit. Well, fruit is better than candy, so I have to call it a win in the parenting arena.