On the Receiving End of Brutally Honest

I have been after an acquaintance and her children to come over for a playdate. I called and asked her over. We landed a date and determined that based on our schedules it sounded like the best time for us to get together is over lunch. No problem, I can pull together lunch. There was a pause and then she said, "That will not work. My kids will not eat at your house. They would rather go hungry." There was a pause and she added "We think that you cook weird things."

I was a bit taken aback at the thought as well as her frankness about the situation. Honest, I had no intent of cramming raw milk and homemade whole wheat pasta down their necks. I laughed. "Sometimes I do cook differently than some, but for things like this I serve normal kid stuff."

"Oh, no," she went on to explain that that would not do. She gave me a very limited menu of what her kids would consider acceptable. The list included the brand names of the items - i.e. Tyson chicken nuggets with Honey Bee Honey. While most of the time I am pretty flexible, there was no way that I could accommodate her crew and mine without spending $30 or more on a lunch that I would otherwise not feed my kids. Also she mentioned twice that her kids would only drink juice boxes (She even mentioned the brands that they consider acceptable.) at my house since we often drink "strange juices." At some point in the conversation she seemed to be telling me more of her preferences than those of her children.

I think I suggested that we wait to get together until the weather was better and we could brown bag it at the park and ended the call.

After I hung up I was not quite sure what to make of the conversation but I decided that I had truly been on the receiving end of brutally honest. Basically what she was saying was "My family would rather stab our hands with a forks than eat your food." I am still not quite sure what to think. However, I did laugh when I realized that this is the same woman who said that she has a hard time expressing herself. Really? Cause I think not.