I was 20 years old, working at a semi-formal restaurant as a hostess and I will never forget the family that walked in. There were 2 nicely dressed parents with two mid-elementary age kids. Each kid came into the restaurant with their own personal DVD player (I am dating myself a bit) and giant headphones. They wore their individual entertainment devices from the moment they came into the restaurant and were waiting to be seated, all through dinner, and until they left the restaurant. I remember turning to one of my coworkers and saying, “Why do the parents even spend the money to go out to eat? When I am a parent, I am NEVER going to let my kids watch a movie the entire time that we are out to dinner.”
I am sure that I have said a lot of things pre-children that I am now disappointing the naive pre-kid Zandria, but that one pops in my head the most. Sometimes, it gets crazy balancing two full-time jobs, keeping on top of the household tasks such as dishes, and sometimes we just want to sit down for a minute, relax, and visit with each other i.e. go out to eat. We have three kids and we will try everything to keep our kids amused: talking to them, coloring with them/giving them crayons and paper, bringing in toys, but sometimes none of those items work. Sometimes, our kids may be cranky from going to daycare all week and the previous festivities the weekend before and they have ran out of steam. Sometimes I just really want to take a moment and talk to my husband and not have to be constantly doing dishes, making dinner or something. When these moments come up in which we desperately need to go out and our kids aren’t really having it, I break out the secret weapon.
Enter my iPhone with Netflix and unlimited internet.
Yes, ladies, I let my kids watch movies while we are out to dinner. Like I said, this is my final resource, this is the thing that I use if nothing else works. Enter – foot in mouth. We are now the modern-day DVD family. I now understand the DVD family – maybe the mom and dad worked full time, the parents hardly got any time together between their work schedules and the kids schedules, the parents hardly got time alone because the parents didn’t have many people that they trust enough to watch their kids, and the kids were not thrilled with the idea of going out to eat on that particular night.
Looking back now, there is much worse that a family could do than let their kids watch a movie while going out to eat. I am now kicking myself for some of the things that I said and thought before I had kids. Yes, it is great to have goals and wants, but sometimes you don’t understand how challenging parenting can be until you are in the trenches: you haven’t talked to your husband much all week, your dishes are taking over your sink, you and your family are all extremely hungry and weary from a long day, and nothing sounds better than a bowl of slightly warmed tortilla chips and salsa.
Do yourselves a favor folks and learn from my mistake. Be kind and give each other a little grace. And if you need a moment while you are out in public, and your child wouldn’t mind watching Moana for the 100th time, maybe give them the iPhone.. or at least don’t judge the family at the table next to you that has decided to watch Mickey Mouse Christmas, in the middle of June, at the table next to you.
