For about a month now, one of our family mantras has been “savor”.

I was watching Cam wolf down a bowl of ice cream, large bites, scooping the next one before he had even swallowed the one in his mouth, and then when the bowl appeared empty, he stuck his face inside and licked the sides.

To say Cam and Demi like sweets is an understatement.

So, one afternoon, I asked Cam if he knew what the word “savor” meant. And he did! But we discussed what it really meant if you applied it to meals or desserts. It means to enjoy the bite that is in your mouth without thinking about the next bite. It means taking your time through a meal or a dessert so you get the most out of it.

Shockingly, this worked.

Maybe a little too well.

Case in point: Cam now will fish chopsticks out of our utensil drawer for his dessert. He’ll poke the end of it into the dessert and lick the tip of the chopstick. He’ll ask everyone around him how much dessert they have left and flaunt that he still has the most. He’ll arguably make more of a mess while his dessert turns to mush and he drags it around the house or yard.

Other case in point: Demi and I went to the grocery store the other day and it was getting toward dinner time, so we were both in need of a snack. I opened the cheddar popcorn and handed her some on a napkin while I kept the bag. I am a big fan of cheddar popcorn, so apparently I was shoving fistfuls into my mouth while I drove. Lo and behold my 3-year-old called me out from the back seat. “Maaaaaa-maaaaa! You’re not savoring!!”

I guess these unintended consequences are still better than where we started. There is rarely a meal where we don’t talk about savoring and generally speaking I think that’s a really good thing!