The other day on Facebook a friend of mine mentioned how she hates to be seated next to a family with small children when she’s looking forward to a nice quiet dinner.
Oh really? Like anyone wants that? It may be my own small child but I don’t want to sit next to him either. Even more so, I don’t want anyone seated next to us that is going to be annoyed. It stresses me out and I can’t relax one bit knowing we are the cause of that person’s unhappy meal. I mean, I’m stressed out enough as it is! It’s a big deal just to try and get us all out of the house to go and enjoy a public meal.
When our son was a baby and we would go out I’d just be like, “Please stick us in some far back corner where we can’t be a nuisance.” And then we eventually graduated to, “Please give us a booth where we can corral the child and trap him in.”
In an effort to cut down on being annoying to other people, we would take turns eating while the other person took him outside to “go on a walk-about.” It was a good two years before I got to sit down and have a meal with my husband at a restaurant, at the same time.
When we are out, most of my time is spent trying to catch little cars before they fly off into somebody’s food, or stop Mr. Curious from peeping over the back of the booth to say hello. Or maybe holding little feet in my lap to stop them from kicking the back of someone’s seat.
So no, I don’t want you to sit next to me either. And when I saw you walk in, the first thing I thought was “Please, please, please don’t sit next to us,” because I don’t want to stress the whole dinner about annoying you while you give us the stink-eye or the polite, but strained smile while putting up with our kid. Believe me, it goes both ways.
So while my first instinct was to reply back to that post with a snarky “I don’t want you to sit next to me either,” I decided it would be better to just keep scrolling and let it slide. She wasn’t directing that comment at me, and she has no clue how it might poke at a sensitive mom who had a rough day and would really like to enjoy a dinner out. If anything, that comment is really directed at a poorly trained hostess who should have known not to seat her near people with kids.
So in this case, Moms reading random comments on Facebook feeds, you just gotta brush it off. It’s not about you.
Now go on, brush your shoulders off.
Categories: Mom Life
Geek Mamas 
One time we were flying home and DH could read the woman’s phone who was sitting in front of us. Granted he should NOT have been snooping. So rude. But anyway, she sent a text to someone that said “I’m sitting in front of a bunch of little kids. This is going to be great…” Or something along those lines. I was just thinking “woman, the last thing in the world I want to do right now is cram my entire family into this tin can and hurl for 3 long hours through the sky with 200 angry passengers. If you think your flight is gonna suck. Try being me.” Of course, I said nothing, my kids behaved awesome and the woman lived to fly another day.
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ugh..yeah…you can feel the peoples eyes on you when you get on a plane with small kids! They are totally like “please not me, not me, not me, don’t sit near me.” So Stressful. Glad to hear your kids behaved so well! So it IS possible! lol
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Haha! Lucky for us we had a morning flight, so they weren’t tired from a long day. That and unlimited tablet time were a great help!
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I totally get this! We havent tried a real sit down place to eat in a while. Usually we are the parents who use the phone to keep them quiet when they start getting miserable. But sometimes we just need to get out! We are humans who have the right to eat at a resteraunt too.
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We use the phone too! And then you have to figure out what is an acceptable level of noise coming from the phone to not disturb the people around you. Because I’m sure they don’t care what new toy the kid on YouTube is unboxing lol
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Oh my god, that made me laugh so hard. My other mom friends and I have actually banned you tube in our homes for the reason specifically. The girls woukd end up watching something that was labeled for children but it ended up being childish adult humor…. I found Lisa watching some crazy stuff like Elsa and the Hulk in the bathroom, that day i was like not anymore!! So youtube is resevered for finding specific songs i cant find on the radio when they are requested on car rides.
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I can only imagine what that episode was 😂
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I can totally relate! I would love for them for just a SECOND be in our shoes! They wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. I think people may think it’s rude that I let my 3 year old have her iPad
at the dinner table when we’re out but hey..it keeps her quiet and busy and gets her to sit still while eating 🙂
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Yep! Sometimes that iPad is the only thing between us and a toddler tornado 😆
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I was thinking the same thing! I’m thankful for technology but still get the judging eyes. Look people I’m doing my best and like you I didn’t want to cook dinner tonight so it’s either iPad or a loud fidgety child who isn’t doing anything but being a kid!
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Exactly! lol
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