Raising A Florida Native

I sometimes beat myself up for not being a better mom. But then again what parent doesn't think from time to time "Am I doing this right?" Only with me, somedays I wonder, "Hmmm, is this gonna come up one day with MiniMe and her therapist?"  

Sure, I want to provide the best for her. A good education. Lots of love and attention. Help with figuring out the big, bad world. I'm pretty good at the talking stuff. We discuss just about everything. She comes to me with her problems. I (sometimes) manage to make everything all better. 

But I realized today that I've been lacking in one important area of her child-rearing lately. That is raising a Florida native and teaching her all the things that make growing up in Florida a one-of-a-kind experience. I think I have FloridaCracker to thank for this recent insecurity. After reading his blog about teaching his students about shrimp, I realized I had not taught my daughter one of the basics of Florida native living - catching, cleaning and cooking shrimp. 

In fact, MiniMe doesn't like shrimp. I'm pretty sure that will change as her elementary-school-age palate matures. But I realize on this shrimp thing, I'm gonna have to get some help. 

First there's the catching shrimp part. I can't throw a cast net. And I don't do well on boats (seasickness). So looks like this is gonna require the help of SuperMimi. She may be 5 foot 2, with itty bitty stick-like arms and elbows sharp as razors, but she can handle a cast net with the best of 'em. In fact, of everyone in our family, my mom, SuperMimi, is the best fisherman (fisherwoman? fisherperson?) by far. 

I do know how to clean shrimp (yep, I'm good at this and learned it from SuperMimi when I was about MiniMe's age). I can even cook them several different ways. So I've got that part covered. 

I guess it's a good thing that SuperMimi announced her retirement recently. Maybe she'll have time to give MiniMe (and possibly me, NativeMom) a cast-net lesson.