A couple years ago, my wife and oldest son began experimenting with Medjool dates. I wasn’t happy about it.

I’ve tried dates in many forms, and never liked them. They look like legless cockroaches. They are, in my estimation, overly ambitious raisins. Nobody likes an overly ambitious raisin.

Tragically, my family’s addiction to these ancient stone fruits grew worse, to the point I couldn’t trust any baked good that appeared in the kitchen, as it was likely date-tainted. Gone were the days of normal muffins or oatmeal bars. All I heard was “These are sweetened with dates!” and “The dates give these such a great texture!” and other such excited mumbo-jumbo.

My son is addicted to dates and I've never been more ashamed

Not long ago, my wonderful adult son – whose father raised him with the hope he would one day embrace the glory of treats like Dairy Queen Blizzards – said his favorite dessert is dates with peanut butter. I had to disown........

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