Chimichangas for Kids

My wife and I love Mexican food. We try to get our fill of tacos, burritos, and for times when we have the luxury, to get some chimichangas. Chimichangas are best had fresh at the restaurant, but if that is not an option, take out can fill the gap.

My kids are decent enough eaters - they eat their carbs, vegetables, fruits, and protein. The only problem is that they don’t necessarily like a lot of the variety. They are used to eating certain meals that we rotate in and out. If things deviate too much from the rotation, they will go on a hunger strike (for that meal) and demand food later in the form of fruits or snacks.

One particular evening when we ordered chimichangas, there wasn’t another option for the kids. This was a moment where the dinner could have went in multiple directions. What we ended up deciding was that this was dinner and there was no safety net in the form of Impossible Chicken Nuggets (one of their favorites) that can be ready in 5 short minutes. There was a lot of complaining from the kids because they aren’t used to eating chimichangas. It took a lot of convincing and talking through what’s in the chimichangas to get them to reconsider their hunger strike. The things they have eaten before and liked (rice, beans, chicken, cheese, crunchy tortillas) were all in there - it’s just rolled up and flavored a bit differently.

Eventually my 5 year old daughter takes a bite and says it tastes good. This gives my 3 year old son some confidence that it isn’t disgusting (and since he tends to follow what big sister does). He takes a bite also and says it tastes good. Both of them proceed to devour the entire chimichanga leaving me with very little to eat. That was unexpected so I had to heat another one up. I was glad that a more dramatic scene did not play out and then went the routine of fruit and treat after dinner. Crisis averted.