Sunday, September 26, 2010

Compliments of a Stranger

Last weekend, we were in the middle of nowhere Eastern Washington. After we had checked into our motel, we set out to see if there was anywhere open for dinner. There were no McDonalds, Burger Kings, or KFC's around. Just mom and pop sort of places. We saw one and went in.

It was a seat yourself sort of a place. We ended up across from an older couple, a grandma and grandpa. The kids were hungry, and a little antsy after sitting in the car for so long. We ordered, and of course Blondie has to stick her head over the side, looking for the server, and say in a loud voice 'WHEN is she gonna bring our FOOD?' multiple times.

They had a kids menu, which came with crayons. Both of my kids were done with it pretty fast. And as kids do, while they are eating, they are slightly all over the place. And as I do, I'm asking them to behave, sit on their bums, use their fork, etc. while I'm trying to eat my food......

As the older couple across the way were leaving, she comes over, touches the table, and says to me 'You have such well behaved children'.

I say thank you. And wonder. If this is well behaved, they must be used to something completely out of control. Or, maybe I do have well behaved children. Something to think about.

1 comment:

  1. Ha ha ha. This so reminds me of a time when Patti took all of us kids to "The Sizzler". By all of us kids I mean my entire family plus Eric and Leslie. We were probably 8-12 in terms of ages and on a road trip - tired and starving. 1/2 way through the dinner Eric burps and it sets off a chain reaction of laughter and commenting round the table. The host had purposely set us in a small back room - our only company being two elderly couples (this is Sizzler). As one of them left they said to Patti "You sure have well behaved children!". They left the room and we all burst into laughter. It's a much loved story in our book.

    Just the other night I said the same thing to a family who had dinner at the table behind us. Their kids weren't actually well behaved - but were trying really hard. And that mattered to me as it probably did to the parents. Saying it to them really made them smile. As someone who gets nervous taking kids out to dinner for fear they'll ruin someone's meal I think a comment like this goes a long way. More of a pat on the back to the parents to say "you're doing a good job".

    I don't know if your kids were being good or not - sounds like they were normal kids but not misbehaving. Either way I think when someone says something like that it always gives us a chance to think about what our expectations are - and how we are meeting/exceeding/falling below them.

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