We just celebrated by husband's birthday. Given that I threw him a HUGE party when he turned 40 last year, this year we had a more low-key event. It was on a Tuesday and he had to work a little later than normal so he requested that we go out to dinner.
All. Six. Of. Us.
Typically we avoid such situations. You know - taking our kids in public as a form of recreation. Such trips are more often a form of penance for some past childhood sin of ours.
Dinner in a sit-down-order-off-a-menu type place can be challenging, especially for Anna. Let me be clear here. My children do know how to eat at a table. My eldest has horrible table manners (as do many 12 year old boys), but we are constantly on his case. This means the other three have very good table manners because our expectations are very clear.
And we try to set them up to succeed. When we do have to eat out, we look for eateries that have patio seating (which is plentiful in our great-weather-state) & fast service. A 'Kids-eat-free' night is a bonus too because usually those nights the servers are excepting children in a higher frequency. They are fast and patient and cheerful.
Plus, it is nice to get a few free meals.
This night however, my husband choose a steakhouse. I trailed in behind them after searching in vain for Anna socks, so they were already seated in a corner booth inside when I joined them.
The night was miserable. I am not going to sugar coat anything.
We had one of those long booths, with three seats on each side, so the kids kept 'touching'. The service was SLOW, the order was WRONG, the food was MEDIOCRE, and the price was OBSCENE. I hadn't made him a cake because I assumed they would do the whole singing-at-the-table thing. Wasn't that part of the perk of going out? Nope. They didn't even do that.
There were no less than four trips to the bathroom - three of which I was privileged to chaperone. What is it about eating that makes my kids have to go to the bathroom? I know it is a real thing because their GI doc said it is totally normal. He even gave me a scientific term for it. But I digress…
The two of us could have gone to dinner and a movie and hired a babysitter for the same (or less) price. We have officially entered the realm of no longer eating out as a family.
Table for Two? Yes please.
At the end of the dinner my husband and I just shared a look that silently said
"good grief why did we just do this?"
And I am still not sure I have the answer. I just wanted to share my pain with you all, and encourage you those of you with kids to get a sitter and have a nice date night!
Thanks for stopping by to think(?) with me!
