As a father of four with two early stage companies, I do not get the opportunity to take a couple of the kids out for a meal often. But this humid Saturday morning in New Hampshire I was able to take one daughter and one son to breakfast at a local eatery, TJ’s Bagel and Eatery.
The popular local place was busy, but we were able to get a table right away. My rule when taking to kids to meals is that we should decide on meals as soon as possible. The reason behind this is that if the restaurant is slow in service I don’t want the kids to get bored. Bored kids leads to wild kids!
We made our choices: one order of pancakes, one waffle, and a cajun omelet. While Susan, our nice waitress, left with our order, we decided to begin playing our stable game at a restaurant.
The game has no name, but how it works is that one person takes any utensils on the table and makes a sculpture with them. Then the rest of the crowd makes guesses as to what he or she is making. When the correct guess happens the next person makes a sculpture. The game continues until the food arrives. It stirs conversation, keeps the kids occupied and thinking, and passes the time no matter how hungry everyone is.
Our breakfast arrived after one round of the sculpture game, and we jumped right into eating. As I watched the kids eat, I realized I was lucky to be able to spend time with my kids like this and that I truly am blessed with great kids.
We all finished our dishes, talked about what we were going to do with the rest of the day, and left with smiles on our faces.