Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Kansas City, KS

Drew, My oldest son, starting reading Harry Potter a few weeks ago. It took me six months to talk him into it, as all he knew about Harry Potter was from movie previews, and man, it looks creepy in the movie previews. Scary, he said. No way, no how, he said.

So one night I met him in his bed for a little storytime reading, with the first Harry Potter book in hand. And I started reading aloud from chapter one, even though I knew he could do it just fine on his own. If I get to the end of chapter one and he didn't want me to continue, I said, we could stop. I read chapter one and two that evening.

The following night he told me he'd let me read a little more. I read chapters three and four, and then my voice cracked from the dryness and he said it was okay, he could take it from there.

This was just under three weeks ago (and he spent several nights at sleep-away scout camp where he did not take his book.) He's now on book three. We literally have to make him put the book down and turn his light out to go to sleep each night.

See, I knew it would be much like getting my youngest to try certain new foods when he was a toddler. If I could just get it in his mouth, I knew he'd love the taste and want more. My kids were (and still are) very stubborn, it was not about not liking the food, it was about doing what they wanted, even at that age. So occasionally, when I felt really confident that my little guy would love it, I would shove a spoonful of something from a baby jar into his little mouth and then hold it closed while he unwillingly chewed.

Every single time, he'd swallow and then grab the spoon from me trying to get more, as fast as possible. 

Of course, much later, when shoving a spoon down the throat was no longer viable, I tried bribery. I told Drew that if he'd just try a bit of hard boiled egg, he'd get an extra scoop of ice cream for dessert. He bit into it, and then gagged and puked allover the kitchen table. So, he doesn't like eggs, now we know. But it's not because he never tried it!

I guess my point here is don't be afraid to push your kids to the limits of their comfort zone.  And don't be afraid to make mistakes. They clean up with paper towels.