I was recently at a restaurant with my son and there was an incredibly long wait for food (which we did know about beforehand). Although I do believe technology has its place in life, I significantly prefer getting every spare moment that I can with my little one specifically because I work full time and feel my time with him is limited enough.
Any time we go to a restaurant that will require waiting for our food to be cooked and delivered to us I always request a kids menu. Sometimes wait staff will hesitate and verbally state the age the kids menu applies to but that is of no concern to me. Instead, I use it at free paper and challenge my child to a drawing competition. First, he is to draw something -anything at all!- and I will then attempt to perfectly replicate it myself. The only limits are the crayon colors he is given and the limits of his imagination.
Am I an artist? Absolutely not! My artistic capabilities rival that of a toddler. But I will pretend it is even more difficult than it really is, sometimes make an occasional mistake, and mutter occasionally about how challenging he's made things for me to copy. When he was a toddler I'd point out the things I liked about his drawing and I'd point out the differences between the two drawings. Now that he's older these antics never fail to make him cackle with glee. If we're eating with other folks (which is usually the case) and (again, now that he's older) I'll still keep up the same habits as before but I'll also hold up the paper and request a judging from the viewers. They don't get to know who drew first. They are judging strictly on who has the better drawing. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he doesn't. When he doesn't then it prompts him to make the next one even more intricate and difficult for me to replicate.
It's a fun bonding time we have and it's always fun to see what he can come up with. It also greatly reduces the concept of time because we're each having so much fun seeing what the other comes up with that we're not checking our watches to see how long it's taken to wait on our meals. It also serves as a distraction from our grumbling bellies so rare is the time we order appetizers.
Just a little tip I thought I'd share.
August 16, 2022 at 10:40PM
