This might not be a surprise, but there are many meals or snacks we eat at restaurants. And when I say restaurants, I mean a pretend restaurant created by one or more children in our home. I guess that really should not be a surprise to me since they see Daddy go off to a restaurant everyday.
I am really not sure what sparks the idea in their little minds to all of a sudden feel the need to do this, but this morning was one of those times.
I went to church for worship team practice and came home to find the two younger girls cleaning off TV trays and setting up their restaurant in the play room, complete with a place to check in, menus (in very cute kindergarten handwriting and spelling), aprons, a chef coat, and a cash register.
The mom in me loves this type of creative play. I smile at the kitchen vocabulary they use in their “restaurant”, the attention to detail as they grab a blanket or sheet for a table cloth and wrap silverware in a cloth napkin, the custom artwork on the table and the pink princess cash register sitting in the corner.
I especially LOVE the great attitude and kind heart of our 9 year old who was a guest at the restaurant and who snuck away for a minute to grab two dollar bills to leave for her sisters as a tip.
This was definitely the highlight of the afternoon for all of us. We have been reading through scripture (Phil. 2:3-7, Psalm 19:14, Matthew 6:21, just to name a few) and talking about using kind words and actions to build others up and not tear them down. (And often it seems like I’m talking to a brick wall . . . are they listening?) I love moments like this when it shows me they have been listening. Yeah!!
Unfortunately, there is also the control/clean freak side of me who is hoping they will be content serving the cute Melissa and Doug play food and not ask to serve our real lunch at their newly established restaurant. (Tomato soup on TV trays in the middle of the playroom with light color carpet. . . need I say more?)
Fortunately they took the news well about the soup and the need to eat lunch at the table and we enjoyed our afternoon snack of fruit and water at their restaurant.
Hopefully the busser and dishwasher won’t call in sick today or the owner of the establishment (AKA Mom) might have to help out with the cleanup.
Do you have kids who play chef at home? What’s your favorite memory of that? I’d love to hear in the comments below!
