We're used to the easy questions at the dinner table like, "Can we go outside and play after we eat?" or, "Do we HAVE to eat our carrots?" This one pretty much threw us off guard.
Racking my brain as to what to say, I suddenly remembered something that my grandmother used to tell me. "Your children are like the fingers on your hand. Each finger belongs to you and is similar, but at the same time, they're different and separate from each other. You couldn't choose which one you love or want the most and you wouldn't want to be without any one of them. They are a part of you and you love them all equally."
I told the kids what their great-grandmother used to say and asked if it made sense to them. "Which finger on your little hands do you love the most?" They looked at their hands and said, "All the same...we can't pick one."
"Exactly...and neither can we...now eat your carrots.