Does This Make me a Bad Parent?

Or am I simply teaching Audrey to honor her heritage?

Today the 3rd-6th grade has Field Day so the 2nd graders are staying indoors and out of their way and having a "Craft Day". The kids got to bring crafty stuff of their choice from home - the only stipulation being that whatever they brought had to be something they were willing to share. I am a teacher - even if I currently don't teach in a classroom, I am still a teacher at heart. I get it from my mom. I have bins and bins and stacks and stacks of just about anything and everything you could possibly ever want or need if you had to pull a kid craft of some sort together. Here are a few pictures showing some of my stash:


Audrey practically staggered under the weight of her back pack yesterday lugging all the craft supplies she picked out; a bucket of beads and ribbon, a bag of dyed macaroni, paper plates, paper bags, some blank journals, and some water colors. I drew the line at the bag of feathers she found in one of my bins - I want this teacher to like me after all ......

Well yesterday the field day was a wash out so it and the craft day were rescheduled. Turns out that was a good thing b/c we forgot to pack the "special snack". I guess they get to eat and craft all afternoon. Yeah - like I said, I am a former classroom teacher - I'm guessing the teachers are doing end-of-year paper work at their desks today ......

So this morning we packed the snack and this is where I question my parenting .....

They could bring a drink, it could be carbonated but not caffeinated. And they could bring a food snack but it couldn't be candy. So I sent my little sweetie out the door with a root beer, a bag of honey roasted peanuts and a bag of pretzel sticks. When you stop and think about it - the 8 year old version of bar food. Audrey picked the root beer and the pretzel sticks, I suggested the peanuts as I had just purchased them and she didn't know they were an option.

Now is it bad parenting to start her so young on party food like this? Or is it her heritage? Is she genetically predisposed towards this? My family is German, Swedish, English and Irish. My mom's father was German. Her mother was German with a little English and what she always called a "wee bit" of Irish. My dad's dad was German and English and his mother was Swedish. David's mother is German and Welsh. His dad is Irish. So with this much German and Irish coursing through her veins - isn't it pretty much a given that she will end of liking this type of "snack" no matter what?

Afterall, I am the wife who gave her husband a Beer Tender for our 10th wedding anniversary.

And while I never have been able to develop a liking for beer, pretzels - peanuts - popcorn - these are staple snacks for me ...... And I am the mom who has been treating her kids to the big warm pretzels from Auntie Anne's at the mall since the were old enough to gnaw on one ...... So I think I'm gonna come out and say it's genetics.