When we go to restaurants, I usually don't think anything of it. We settled down to eat on Saturday after a great stroll through the Art on the Lake in Excelsior. We sit down, I order saltines to come as soon as possible (it's 1:30 after all and I'm a professional restaurant-with-children-mom) and order spaghetti for the boys to share. As usual, I fork cut Wyatt's food and slide it directly on the table. He devours it, along with my coleslaw. It's all over his face and hair, it's on his clothes, it's smeared on the table, it's smashed into the highchair and thrown on the floor. This is normal. I think nothing of it.
The waiter walks by and under his breath, though audible he says "oh man".
I lowered my head, looked under the table to survey the damage, I've seen worse. My husband looks at me and asked "is this normal, do other people spoon feed their kids at restaurants?" Normal? I really have no idea, but do I care? The answer is yes; I stacked all the plates on the table, cleaned off the highchair and tried putting all the food on the floor into a convenient, easy-to-pick-up pile. I left him the pile and a 20% tip.
7 comments:
And yes, I do want to know, is this normal? Do you guys spoon-fed your children when you're out? What's your table etiquette?
I don't nor have I. Well, when Graycen was still young enough that we were spoon feeding her, I would. I got to a point where she can feed herelf, so she will - same as you.
When we go t a restaurant, i just get down and pick up the majority of the mess that's on the floor. We clean up after ourselves the best we can and also tip a little better if I still leave a trace.There is no reason to go back and do things a different way just because yo are in public. Keep doin' what you're doin' mama!
I'm right with ya, Beth. We let them eat right off the table, make a mess, and then clean it as best we can afterwards. I'm glad that I'm not alone in this...
they just comes a point where you can't care. Just let them eat how they want or we will all give our selves an ulser.
No spoon feeding here. Even at almost four, my daughter is a messy eater. I just leave the mess and a BIG tip. I walk out guilt free!
Whatever we do at home is what we do at restaurants. In other words, as soon as D. was old enough to eat by himself (hands or utensils), that's what he did - anywhere.
That waiter was an ass to make you feel bad for having a normal child.
what is normal is people in food service picking up these messes. I worked as a manager of an Olive Garden for 5 years and we did this many times a night. This is why you go out so you don't have to clean it up. Forget it...
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