I’m sure pretty much everybody has grown up hearing the connection between apples and doctors. If you want to know who really appreciates this statement … go talk to any mother of any toddler, who can be seen running after the little one with a bowl of fruits. Right from our childhood days, we’ve been told that the more fruits you eat, the better your health!! Also, if we see any food pyramid structure worth its salt, fruits are always first in the order of eatables. You take one look at chips, chocolates, or other oily snacks, you encounter frowns and scoldings on such a large scale, that you start shivering from head to foot!

And yet, call it paradox of nature, or ironic fate, every single child runs after the oily snacks and every single mother of such toddlers can be seen running after the said-toddler with a bowl of fruit. Well, I’m no exception!! Gone are the days when I could cook the fruit, mash it, mix it with some cereal and shove it … oops feed it to my little one(oh those were the days).

You see, now that NEha has turned four, any sort of mashing and mixing is strictly frowned upon!! She’s a big girl now and she’s supposed to eat like big girls. Well, try telling that to a four-year-old!! So, every single day, I’ve to come up with new schemes to attract my little one to a healthy bowl of fruits. The story teller that I’m, I’ve resorted to telling a story about the benefit of eating fruits. Now, the beauty of this story is that for the first time, a kids story has been inspired by a Hindi serial that I watched on T.V.

Just the other day, I was just watching some serial, where the heroine while praying, hurt her legs by stepping on a sharp rock. My very concerned little one immediately started questioning about what happened to that Aunty. Now, as a mother of atoddler, and a budding story-teller, my mind immediately started creating a story around Aunty and her hurt legs ….

Once upon a time, there lived an aunty who troubled her mommy a lot!! Aunty would not eat or drink anything that her mommy offered.

One day Mommy asked, “Will you please have some vegetables?”
Aunty said, “No!”
Then Mommy asked, “Will you drink some milk?”
Aunty said, “No, No! (Without realising I had introduced mathematical concepts in the story)
So, Mommy asked, “How about some fruits?”
Aunty screamed, “NO NO NO!”
Mommy got really upset, “Why do you keep saying no to everything? How will you grow strong if you don’t eat food? Ok, if you keep saying no to me, I’ll also no to you!”
The next day, Aunty asked her Mommy, “Can I watch some T.V.?”
Mommy said, “No!”
Aunty asked, “Can you give me some chocolates?”
Mommy said,”No, No!”
Aunty asked, “Can I play on the swing?”
Mommy said,” NO NO NO!!”
So Aunty became very sad and came out of their house. She started playing all by herself. But since she had not eaten anything healthy, she accidentally stepped on a stone and hurt her foot! She had to go to the doctor who told her that if she didn’t eat properly, she’ll keep hurting herself!!”

And all the while, as I told my little one Aunty’s story, I kept popping in one piece of apple after another. The little one didn’t even realise when she had finished an apple.

The message that she got …. if Neha doesn’t eat apples … Aunty will get hurt …!!

Just a small request to Ekta Kapoor and other serial producers …. pleas keep up the good Job!!!

http://sanghouston.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/07/an-apple-a-day-keeps-doctor-away.htm