Taking The Kids Out to Eat

As part of teaching my children to be well adjusted and polite members of our community, we eat out once a week. Usually on grocery day, but instead today was just a treat for working so hard on the farm this morning. Chad was gone and we had to do all of his morning farm chores. This required all three children to do extra work and cooperate. It also meant that I didn't have time to cook lunch. We came under budget on our weekly shopping, so I felt I could justify the $15 for all of us to eat lunch. It was lovely!

Couple things we do: we bring crayons and doodle mats if we know the place won't have them. This one did. We play tic tac toe, name three things, and free draw. I usually have to remind them of their manners if they get squirrely. The thing adults often forget about children? They actually do not want to embarrass anyone or themselves, they want to be civil, but they don;t know all the rules yet and even if you have told them a million times, they are kids and may not remember. I gently remind, usually Holly, that even though she is excited...she needs to sit and eat because we have a limited amount of time. The booth next to us may well want to see her song and dance she just made up. Don't assume they don't. Still, time is in short supply and food is yummy.

I keep my calm. I redirect. I model for them saying please and thank you but I do not force them to. They see me and they follow that lead.

We practise at times that are not busy so that when we ever end up somewhere more formal or more chaotic, they have practised and know what to expect. I need that as an adult, why wouldn't a child also need that?

I often hear folks online complain about kids in eateries or other public spaces. Not all kids are like the crazy explosion of childhood described. Even so, that parent probably really needs a break from cooking food and cleaning up, so just be graceful and continue on, ok?

Today, this was our lunch. We played games, talked about fancy lettering and scripts, played name three things that are onomatopoeia, and then talked about what kinds of meals they would like Chad to feed them on nights I am not home. Not tacos, they said. They want lasagna, fried eggs, and cheese noodles only. As an afterthought, pizza. Eggs reminded them that we are out, so we called our local egg friend and picked up 10 dozen. We eat a lot of eggs. One dozen will be just one breakfast alone. We did some math with how much money we had and her two types of eggs and prices......pullets are less expensive but smaller vs regular eggs at full price. So a wee bit of math. We ended up with all pullets! 10 dozen! Lily estimated that it would be the better egg for dollar option and.....she was right!

So that was our lunch out. Isaac only ran from the table once and Lily caught him and redirected while I was putting on my coat. He's three. It happens.

One more thing, Holly looks sad in this picture. I had no idea until I uploaded them! She was all smiles and I didn't expect such a somber look from my sunshine girl.