Will We Ever Understand "Tween-Logic"?

My nine-year-old son Jake drives me crazy in a thousand different ways, but I can’t get too upset about them because I was just like him when I was a kid.

One of the things that he does that frustrates me is that he gets an idea into his head about not liking something, and that’s it, he’s stuck. I was the same way. It’s why I didn’t try blueberries or avocados until I was in my twenties (oh, the wasted years!). That’s precisely why, when I made sourdough bread for the first time a few weeks ago, I was careful not to call it sourdough in front of him, or let him know that it had been made with the weird, smelly stuff “growing” in the refrigerator.

I wanted Jake to simply taste the warm, delicious bread, without any kind of name prejudice clouding his perception. He did, and he loved it. For a couple of weeks he devoured it – with butter, as grilled cheese, however I offered it to him.

Then a few days ago, without thinking, I cut into another warm loaf and asked him if he wanted some sourdough bread.

“SOUR dough? Ewww. No.” I tried to work fast. “Don’t be silly Jake, it’s the same bread you’ve been eating” I told him as I put a chewy slice with butter right in front of him. He wouldn’t touch it.

Dammit! Had I ruined a good thing? It was infuriating. It was nine-year-old logic at its best.

I tried to appeal to his logical side. “Jake, how many times have you eaten this bread? Sourdough is just a name! The bread doesn’t taste sour, you know that!” I could see him wavering, so I continued. “Jake, you love milk chocolate – do you pour it in a glass? Is it white? No. Just a name.” He looked at the bread. He licked his lips.

“OK” he said slowly. “I’ll TRY it.” And he did, and he proclaimed it wonderful. He said it like it was the first time he’d ever had it.

It amazes me that kids can look logic in the face and laugh. Things that seem so apparent to the grown-up me would’ve confounded the kid version. And while I know exactly where he’s coming from, I feel bad that this trait of his is going to limit his choices for a while.