They look gross, but trust me, they’re addicting…and this time I don’t care what you think 🙂

I was at Costco a few weeks ago, and the Kidlet spotted a display of packages of dry roasted seaweed.”Mama! May we buy some of that??” she exclaimed. The last time she tried seaweed, she scoffed and made faces and refused to eat more than a miniscule amount. I reminded her that she disliked the seaweed I made her try in the past, and she told me that a girl at school brought some and so now she liked it. We bought a package, and she brings one to school every week.

When I was about her age, in a predominately, ahem, maybe 98.5% white school, I brought seaweed for a snack one day. My friends asked me what it was, and I offered them a few bites after telling them what it was. They scoffed, and the really brave and curious ones took a bite, but it made me so uncomfortable to stand out even more than I did, that I never brought any more seaweed to school again.

The other day, I found myself in the middle of El Monte at an Asian market. I saw a display for seaweed and found the brand that I had almost 30 years ago. Thinking it would be fun for the Kidlet to try, I bought some and took it home. She was ecstatic and insisted I bring them to her school picnic, where she proudly showed them off to her friends, making them try some and basking on the attention of her peers.

The need to be accepted and validated starts young. It took me almost 30 years to get comfortable in my own skin while it only took about 7 for the Kidlet. I could learn a thing or two from that girl.