Thursday, June 14, 2012

Outside We Dine, Rain or Shine

Mealtime is not my favorite time of day. It has not always been this way. But now meal time means thinking of a meal, cooking that meal, refilling my freshly emptied sink with dirty dishes, messing up the entire kitchen that I just finished cleaning from the last meal, and tripping over three children who suddenly remembered they are starving. But the WORST part of mealtime is the eating of the meal. Experienced moms, when do children learn how to eat without splattering their entire meal on anything within a ten foot radius??

 During the summer we eat every meal possible on the deck, or out on the grass. The grass makes a great no clean up drop cloth. So unless a tornado is in sight, we eat outside. Yesterday, I had just gotten the kids settled on the deck with their lunch, when it started to drizzle. I didn't move a muscle (hoping the kids wouldn't notice?) Yeah right. Sophia quickly gathered her plate and headed for the door. Jazlyn screamed, ran to my side and shrieked in my ear in horror, "Mom! It's RAINING! We need to go inside! Ahhhh!"

I calmly assured her that it is ok to eat in the rain. This nearly sent her into hysterics. She begged and pleaded me to go inside. She just wanted to save her mom from the killer rain drizzle. I asked her if she thought I would melt? No. What then? You will get WET. Horror of horrors. That's about the time that the rain stopped, and we finished our lunch on the deck. Win.

**Note: They did NOT have butter sandwiches for lunch.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

when you find out I would like to know too;)

Carrie

Unknown said...

For me, when my youngest was three, we finally had most of our meals without spills. They still occasionally happen, but usually not more than about twice a week. Having older kids makes a huge difference, even when babies and toddlers are little because they model good habits and help clean up.

Don't give up! As my pediatrician reminded me when I was worried about potty training my twins, she hasn't ever sent a patient off to college who wasn't potty trained. I think the same perspective might apply to eating habits. :-)

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