Tonight's dinner is kimchi hot pot—parents are allowed to cook for themselves, too

My husband and I both love spicy food.

Since our children were born,
the dishes on our table have changed completely.

Curry, hamburger steak, meat sauce spaghetti.
They are all delicious.
But somehow, something is missing.

Kimchi hot pot, mapo tofu, peperoncino...
Before I knew it, I had stopped making those dishes.

For the sake of my children,
I also make dishes packed with vegetables.

Then,
“I don't like this.”
“It tastes bad.”

They don't even look at it, and I end up eating the leftovers.

The time I spent thinking about how to make it easier to eat,
the feelings of caring for my children's health.
Those, too, end up as leftovers.

Even when I make something the children like,
sometimes they say,
“I'm not hungry. I don't want it.”

I lose track of who I am cooking for.
I get frustrated with the children for not eating,
and then I feel sad about myself for feeling that way.


One cold winter day,
I just really wanted to eat kimchi hot pot.
In a piping hot pot, pork belly, tofu, and long green onions.
Eating it with a beer,
and finishing it off with kimchi rice porridge.

At that moment, something changed.

I don't have to be bound only by what the children think.
Tonight's dinner is kimchi hot pot.

The children's dinner?

They can just eat retort curry or
frozen fried chicken.

If they are elementary school age,
they can even go to the convenience store themselves.

In this day and age, there's always a way.

Of course,
if they say they want some,
I don't mind giving them some of mine.

I enjoyed the kimchi hot pot with my husband.
The children
competed to eat the frozen fried chicken.

It doesn't always have to be days where they force themselves to eat vegetables they dislike;
it's okay to have days where they eat what they choose themselves.

A dinner table with more lively conversation than usual
might have been a day of rest
for the children as well.

From that day on, the children changed too.

When I go to make breakfast,
there are days when they take their favorite curry doria out of the freezer
and microwave it themselves.

It's okay to eat what you like.
Maybe they've started to think that way.

It's not every day.
But it's okay to have days like that.

That's why, every few days,
I cook just for myself.

A dinner table surrounded by smiles.
Because I think that is the most important thing.

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