Life With Boys

chicken and broccoli

It was a Saturday evening and Zayn had just started feeding the boys dinner. A task that seemed simple, but was anything but when he was juggling trying to get three kids to eat a healthy meal. 

"Papa, I want pizza instead. Daddy always lets us have pizza," Harry whined from across the table, poking at the cut up grilled chicken and broccoli that Zayn had sat in front of him. 

"Harry, this doesn't have to be a fight every time. It is good for you, don't you want to grow big and strong one day like Papa?"

Harry huffed and crossed his arms across his chest dramatically in response, obviously not taking Zayn's bait. 

"Come on Harry, please just try it at least," Zayn encouraged. 

"No! I want pizza!" Harry screamed as he pushed the plate towards the center of the table and hopped down from his chair. Zayn sighed in response, watching as the boy ran to the living room, probably looking for a place to pout. 

He didn't even bother going after him, he was tired of fighting the same fight at every mealtime. He would give the boy a second to calm down and then try to reason with him.

After a few minutes had past, Niall looked at Zayn nervously from his spot at the table, picking up on his dad's frustration. "Lou and I like it! See papa?" Niall said as his drowned a piece of the chicken in ketchup and put it in his mouth. 

Zayn laughed and got up and gave the boy a kiss on the head, "I'm glad sweetheart. Try the broccoli for papa next, yeah?" 

Niall scrunched up his face at the comment and Zayn laughed before heading to the living room to check on Harry. 

When he entered the room, he found the boy sitting on the carpet with his knees to his chest rocking himself back and forth with tears running down his cheeks. 

"Haz, there's no need to get so worked up over dinner," he said as he scooped the boy up into his arms and sat him on his lap on the couch. Harry only cried louder at the words, hiding his face in the crook of Zayn's neck. 

This made Zayn begin to worry. They had many *many* dinner meltdowns each weekend, but Harry had never reacted quite like this. "Shhhh. It's okay baby. Papa will cook you something different if you really don't like it. It's no big deal." 

"I don't want it Papa," Harry cried out and tried to burry his face further into Zayn's neck as he continued to sob. Zayn gave up reasoning with the boy and just rocked him in his lap, trying to calm the boy down. "Okay baby, you don't have to. It's okay. Let's just go sit back at the table with Lou and Ni. Just try to breathe for me." 

Harry didn't put up a fight and continued to soak the front of Zayn's white shirt with snot and tears, something that would usually make Zayn physically gag, but he didn't want to chance upsetting the boy any further.

The pair returned to Zayn's spot at the table and Niall eyed them with concern as they sat down. Zayn pushed his plate out of the way, suddenly losing his appetite, and continued to rock the crying boy back and forth in his arms. 

"He's okay Ni, finish your food," Zayn said to the boy as he continued to watch them. 

Niall hesitated and then did as he was told, trying to return his attention back to his dinner plate. Meanwhile, Louis was perfectly content making a mess of his baby food on the tray of his high chair, not paying any attention to his brothers or Papa.

As both the boys finished their dinner, Harry's crying eventually died down to small sniffles and whimpers. Zayn did his best to balance carrying the boy and cleaning off the table, leaving the dishes in the sink for him to take care of tomorrow.