Dinning out with your little ones...

Quality time equals dinning out at a nice restaurant?  

Not true if it involves your preschoolers. 

When both of my little ones were younger than they are now, which is not so long ago, I used to find fine dining a test of my mothering abilities. To be able to make your little ones forget that they are children and pretend to be adults seemed to be a qualifying factor of whether the kids were well-behaved or not, and the only way to avoid the unwanted gazes from not-with-kids-diners. And then there was always this on-your-toes-guarding to ensure that the place and all that is on the table stays unbroken and intact, while your toddler explored or showed signs of tantrums. If you add all this up it equals to more work for the mother and the children, and not much fun - unless you are not very good at deductive logic.

This might be the very reason why McDonalds is so popular. It is a place where children are expected to be children – a saving grace for both the parents and the kids.

However, I have made some adjustments to my viewpoints. Part of the reason for this change is that my kids are slightly older and more independent - enough to enjoy a meal with least amount of my help, which means mommy can also get to enjoy what’s on her plate, and they take my ‘no’ more seriously now, or at least I like to believe so. Another reason is that both of my kids are good communicators (just sounds better than chatty). And hence dining becomes a place when their mother is not busy serving or thinking about the next errand to do, and can simply listening with a relaxed mind and body.   

Yes, but having said all this, you do need a good restaurant that provides them some level of entertainment at some point at least. One of my favourites, is Moxie’s Classic Grill - a casual fine dining. Not only do they have a good kids’ meal selection and their own individual kids menu to hold, but the highlight is the way they excite the kids' imagination with their especially-made-for-kids-dessert.  If you haven’t visited Moxie’s then let me go ahead and spoil the surprise for you, it is an Ice-cream Dessert Volcano. I think this dessert alone has been enough to keep my kids bribed into wearing their adult-behaving-mannerism. 

So my adjusted perception: as long as the dining places do provide some element of ‘childrenism’, it can be a refreshing and bonding time for the whole family!  Do tell me about your quality time at a fine restaurant…

Our Little Mirrors....

Have you ever found yourself listening to your children converse with each other and felt that their conversation taught you more than what books or your years of experience could have?

Upon watching Heaven, my daughter, play in her toy kitchen, my five year old, Isaiah, says to her: "Heaven let me show you how to make an egg. You take oil and make it hot, then you put the egg and leave it for few minutes and then flip it and leave it for few minutes again and it's done".

And here I thought he's only watching me and was completely clueless that my five year old has gotten the process of making eggs down packed at the age of five - something I had only learned to do in my teen years, embarrassingly . 

Isn't it really that simple. To teach them, just let them watch you! Oh the responsibility of modelling!  Are they really our little mirrors?  We as parents know this. Yet we seem to be not very conscious of this incredible parenting tool we carry with us.  Perhaps we think our words of instruction are more powerful.  And they are, but how we live our lives in front of our tiny ones is even more influential!

It doesn't take much to catch them stepping into our shoes. It is amazing to think that each moment we spent with them, we are in fact engraving a habit, a viewpoint, an attitude, a philosophy or a value in them. And the end product of our imprinting will appear in front of us in a matter of few years, if not sooner.