you're not hungry, you're tired

I read an article today wherein fathers were encouraged to repeat "annoying" catchphrases when teaching their children life lessons. The article said that your children will be irritated by them now but the cliched-sayings will stick with them into adulthood and they will remember the wisdom you were trying to impart. My parents did this with gusto during our childhood and it is a little scary to me now that I can hear my mom's voice in my head saying these phrases in unison with me as I repeat them to my children.

My favorite phrase (and the one I use all the time much to the frustration of my girls) is "You're not hungry, you're tired". As children if we asked for something to eat before bedtime (or after bedtime) then my mom would say this to us with a sweet smile and that would be the end of the conversation. The reason I'm sharing this is because after Natsuki was born and I was nursing her around the clock, I also ate around the clock. Usually I wasn't so hungry in the morning but as the day wore on (and I was actually awake) my appetite would return so that by the late evening I was still hungry no matter how much I'd eaten throughout the day. This was fine since Natsuki was waking up twice at night and I needed to be able to produce milk for her. But it just occured to me last night that she's sleeping through the night but my late night cravings have not decreased. The other night I ate a whole bag of microwave popcorn - by myself - at 11pm and then went to bed. This is not going to help me with getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight which will hinder all my shopping plans when I go home!

So last night, when the hunger pains began, I repeated to myself "you're not hungry, you're tired, you're not hungry, you're tired" until they passed and then I went to bed. The irritating catchphrases worked! My mother would be so proud of me!