Lunch with Children

Before I had kids, I remember when Mark and I would be out to dinner, there would be a family sitting near us with 2-3 kids. It seemed like whenever we would start talking, 1 would get upset at their parent and start crying/screaming/talking back. In my head, I was always thinking, "Oh my goodness, people-control your children!" However, now having a child of my own, I totally get it.

Today I had lunch with a friend who had her daughter along as well as 2 other children she was babysitting (their mom had just had a baby). Plus, Ethan was along, so there were 2 adults with 4 children. The littlest girl (about 18 mo.) was really well-behaved. She just sat and ate her chicken. The other one (4 years old) was kinda sassy and naughty. She kept asking if she could eat Ethan's cereal puffs. "No," I told her. "You get to eat a corn dog. Ethan can't eat that yet." Each of our own children were fairly well behaved, aside from the fact that Ethan got a little cranky about eating. The food just wasn't coming fast enough. He calmed down, though, once he got a taste of the strawberry lemonade (yum!). Applebee's was pretty busy today (I think they were having some sort of health care professional appreciation because there were a lot of doctors, nurses, etc.), so I know my friend and I probably looked like those parents that couldn't control their children-mine flailing because he needed more cereal puffs and chicken, little girl stinking up the corner in her poopy diaper, 4 year old sassy girl saying she wanted a dessert cup even though she didn't finish her lunch, and 6 year old girl asking the waitress for ranch, then a sword of cherries, then dessert. So, nexttime you see children with a parent/caregiver in a restaurant, make sure it's not me and then cut them some slack! It's not easy!