The long Semestral break vacation is almost over. My two boys are starting to feel the end of it. Petrified of getting back to reality…. the act of going back to school.
No matter how hard I tried to persuade my kids that school is satisfying and commendable, their desire for a long vacation often beats my persuasion.
They are like the rest of the normal kids…. dreading for homework, assignments, projects, and exams.
I don’t want them to grow up afraid of Mondays and so eager to get to Payday Friday. So I need to do the unthinkable and do something unique and different but at the same time effective.

People often say that a way through a man’s heart is through his stomach. Maybe that could do the trick.
My wife always does the cooking and my kids often love her dishes. But this time, it’s my turn to put on my magic sleeves.
I want them to be not afraid of school, Mondays, and make every weekday as happy as their beloved long vacation.

So I went to market early in the morning to buy pork, pineapple, and other stuff that I will be needing for my “Convincing Action program”. Then I told them this… “Boys, today we’ll go outdoors and we will GRILL”!
They were not that excited at first. But when they started smelling the charcoal, the juice of the patties that we were grilling, and the role that they were playing… they became active and energetic.
Everyone had a role in this… I made the patties that are mixed with garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, and some oyster mushroom leftover.
My wife did the caramelized sauce and the mandarin juice. My eldest Luigi took care of the base cooking. He made sure that the charcoal is well lit up and maintained consistent heat for the duration of the grilling.
Lorenzo, my youngest, was in charge of buttering the pineapples.
It was a complete family activity. We got to talk a lot more when we are out. Their phones, tablets, and gaming devices were all out of sight. It was just us and the patties that we were cooking.

Then came the best part… time to eat our end product. Everyone was delighted with the “Pork Pineapple Patties” that we all made.
You may think that using ground pork instead of ground beef would be verboten in burgerland, but it’s just as flavorful and juicy as beef.
The pineapples were the “Kicker”! The pork and the pineapple complement each other that you don’t need to apply other seasonings such as catsup and mayonnaise.
It’s amazing to think that we mixed it up and did something that doesn’t really fit in the traditional, classic burger spectrum.

After eating 2 whole burgers, my children begged and exactly asked this phrase… “Can we do this again Daddy”?
I said… “Sure, we can add this to your regular BORING school day”. “I just like to remind you that school time is not as bad as vacation time as long as we have activities such as this”.
My boys nodded with a smile and concurred all the things that I said.

The Pork Pineapple Patties and The Grilling Bonding time did the trick! Now, my kids are not afraid of school anymore.
And when they have their own families sometime in the future, and their wives got the flu, and their children are like newborn nests birds opening their beak as a sign of hunger….. my 2 boys will only have to refresh their memory that they can easily go outdoors and just GRILL!