Dining Out In Peace

I have taken to carrying a bunch of pencils, pens and coloured pen plus papers in my handbag to whip out when we are eating out.

All for the kids of course.

They are useful to stop my 6-year-old from doing her interrogate-the-waitresses routine. Stop the 3-year-old from dancing all around. And so the 8-year-old will just be quiet for a while.

All so that we can dine without being notice.

This do-some-drawings trick does make them focus on their papers (and not their surroundings) most of the times except that it also comes with “Mama, look at my drawing!” or “What do you think of this fashion?” or always the loudest, “PAPA, CAN YOU DRAW ME A SPORTS CAR!!”

But how primitive we look when parents in nearby tables whip out fancy gadgets to entertain their kids. How provincial we seem when their full-of-self-control kids quietly (and smugly) swipe their fingers on their gadgets – when all we had were short wooden pencils and coloured pens with wrong caps!

I know what my kids must be thinking….

Yes, mama will bring fancier looking pencils and make sure all coloured pens have the correct caps on!