How to Get Your Kid NOT to Like Jellybeans

It wasn’t intentional.  But I’m certainly not going to beg you to eat jellybeans.  They’re not exactly prominent on the food guide pyramid…and…if you don’t eat them, there’s more for Mommy.

For Christmas I got a beautiful jar of Jelly Belly jellybeans.  It was really an awesome gift…in addition to the beautiful jar…it was an edible, delectable confection that didn’t have to be consumed in the midst of all the holiday goodies we always have on hand.

The girls were drawn to the beautiful colors, though, and they did NOT want to wait until a beautiful spring day to break open the seal.  I held them off until some time in January, when I finally acquiesced to opening the jar.

I didn’t go through a very detailed process in selecting approximately 6 jellybeans as part of their afternoon snack (in addition to nuts and pretzels, if I recall).  Apparently the girls each landed a cinnamon flavor Jelly Belly, though…and those are a bit on the spicy side.

They were not impressed.  At all.

A week or so later, before I had polished off the jar (!!!), I asked the girls if they wanted more jellybeans.  They both declined.  I promised I would be on the lookout for any mean flavors, but they refused.

OK.  Suit yourselves!  More for Mommy!

For Valentine’s Day, I ran upon the cutest miniature boxes of Jelly Belly jellybeans, and I bought one for each of the girls as the treat in their little heart-shaped bags.  They didn’t much react…but I didn't think much of it, figuring maybe they were taken with the cool new sunglasses I gave them.

Later that week, I opened one of the little boxes and again awarded them six jellybeans.  I read the flavors on the back of the box, assuring them there weren’t any spicy beans to be found.

I think my A ate her jellybeans, but B only had a couple.  One she remarked tasted “like dirt”...maybe the coconut one?  Yikes!

I didn’t think much about this until St. Patrick’s Day.  The Jelly Belly jellybeans were long gone, but I’d just gotten the first bag of the season of Brach’s Classic Jelly Bird Eggs.  I found two green ones, and one white, for each of the girls (in addition to nuts and pretzels, served in green bowls).  I thought they would be delighted at the festiveness.

While A was more excited, B didn’t say much.  After snack, I noticed she’d eaten her almonds and her pretzels, but left the jellybeans untouched.

The poor kid is scarred.

I certainly didn’t mean to ruin her for life, but I guess there are worse things than not developing a taste for jellybeans.  Oh, and did I mention that means there’s more for me???