Dear Tazi:
I am thirteen and in the seventh grade. Ever since I started school, I have packed the same lunch every day: a peanutbbutter and jelly sandwich, pretzels, and a drink-box of milk. Lately, my friends have been teasing me and calling my lunch "babyish" and making baby sounds whenever I pull my sandwich out of my lunch bag.
Tazi, I like peanut butter and jelly, but I don't like getting teased (obviously). I really don't want to have to make something else for lunch - my Mom works the night shift and my Dad goes to work early, so I make my own lunch. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is healthy, nuttritious, and easy to make. I have tried explaining this to my friends, but they just laugh and tell me I need to start eating a "more sophisticated" lunch. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do, Tazi? Should I abandon my PB&J and should I listen to my friends?
Signed,
Goober Girl
Dear Goober Girl:
Where I come from, calling someone a "goober" is a questionable term of endearment; but then I remembered that "goober" is also a Southern slang word for "peanut". Now your signiture makes so much more sense...
I have to tell you that I completly understand you! I have a preference for one type of cat cereal [Ed. Note: "cat cereal" is what Tazi calls his dry food]. I really hate when my Mommie tries to interest me in a different brand. There is nothing wrong with my brand.
If your friends are picking on you about your lunch - and refuse to give up on it after you shrug it off - perhaps it is their own insecurities that they are expressing. A "more sophisticated" lunch? Seriously? You are in middle school. There is no need to care so much about what others think about your lunch. You are correct that peanut butter on whole wheat bread is healthy, nutritious, and easy to prepare. It is also an economiocal choice. As for the jelly part...
Jelly generally has little nutritional value. If you would like to perk up your lunch a little without abandoning your peanutbbutter, why not try fresh cut fruit instead of jelly? Banana is a traditional topping for peanutbutter, but my Mommie highly recommends fresh strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries. She also likes honey, but that sometimes gets messy.
If you are truly stuck on jelly, why not try jam? Made with the whole fruit, it is a healthier - and more sophisticated - choice, coming in traditional flavors like grape or strawberry as well as cutting edge flavors like plum or blackberry. If you cannot find these flavors locally, you can order online from the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company out of Canada. Their products are reasonably priced and make great gifts (if your parents are looking for gift ideas). Their page also has a blog offering recipe ideas. Even if you do not purchase from them, the products will expand your horizons so you can view the many jam, jelly, marmalade, and compote flavors out there. Is a sour cherry marmalade or a black currant preserve "sophisticated" enough for your pals? Spread on a shortbread cracker or a Carr's wheat cracker; I find it wonderful (and I hate people food!).
Never try to change to please others. You are the one who has to eat your own lunch.
Snuggles,
Tazi
Ask Tazi! is ghostwritten by a human with a Bachelors of Arts in Communications. Tazi-Kat is not really a talking feline.
I am thirteen and in the seventh grade. Ever since I started school, I have packed the same lunch every day: a peanutbbutter and jelly sandwich, pretzels, and a drink-box of milk. Lately, my friends have been teasing me and calling my lunch "babyish" and making baby sounds whenever I pull my sandwich out of my lunch bag.
Tazi, I like peanut butter and jelly, but I don't like getting teased (obviously). I really don't want to have to make something else for lunch - my Mom works the night shift and my Dad goes to work early, so I make my own lunch. A peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread is healthy, nuttritious, and easy to make. I have tried explaining this to my friends, but they just laugh and tell me I need to start eating a "more sophisticated" lunch. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do, Tazi? Should I abandon my PB&J and should I listen to my friends?
Signed,
Goober Girl
Dear Goober Girl:
Where I come from, calling someone a "goober" is a questionable term of endearment; but then I remembered that "goober" is also a Southern slang word for "peanut". Now your signiture makes so much more sense...
I have to tell you that I completly understand you! I have a preference for one type of cat cereal [Ed. Note: "cat cereal" is what Tazi calls his dry food]. I really hate when my Mommie tries to interest me in a different brand. There is nothing wrong with my brand.
If your friends are picking on you about your lunch - and refuse to give up on it after you shrug it off - perhaps it is their own insecurities that they are expressing. A "more sophisticated" lunch? Seriously? You are in middle school. There is no need to care so much about what others think about your lunch. You are correct that peanut butter on whole wheat bread is healthy, nutritious, and easy to prepare. It is also an economiocal choice. As for the jelly part...
Jelly generally has little nutritional value. If you would like to perk up your lunch a little without abandoning your peanutbbutter, why not try fresh cut fruit instead of jelly? Banana is a traditional topping for peanutbutter, but my Mommie highly recommends fresh strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries. She also likes honey, but that sometimes gets messy.
If you are truly stuck on jelly, why not try jam? Made with the whole fruit, it is a healthier - and more sophisticated - choice, coming in traditional flavors like grape or strawberry as well as cutting edge flavors like plum or blackberry. If you cannot find these flavors locally, you can order online from the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company out of Canada. Their products are reasonably priced and make great gifts (if your parents are looking for gift ideas). Their page also has a blog offering recipe ideas. Even if you do not purchase from them, the products will expand your horizons so you can view the many jam, jelly, marmalade, and compote flavors out there. Is a sour cherry marmalade or a black currant preserve "sophisticated" enough for your pals? Spread on a shortbread cracker or a Carr's wheat cracker; I find it wonderful (and I hate people food!).
Never try to change to please others. You are the one who has to eat your own lunch.
Snuggles,
Tazi
Ask Tazi! is ghostwritten by a human with a Bachelors of Arts in Communications. Tazi-Kat is not really a talking feline.
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