Mommy Mondays: resto turns

We eat out every Sunday after lunch. Because Noah was the most picky in the family, we would always end up eating in the same restos. Until I implemented taking turns choosing the restaurant. 

Since we each take a turn and he knows his turn is eventually coming up, Noah is more tolerant of eating in restos he wouldn't normally eat in. In the past, the few times I would let Isabella choose the resto we would eat in, Noah would give me so much grief: whining about not liking anything there, about me forcing him to eat there, and so on. But now, because it is a weekly ritual, he now expects that he won't get to choose the restaurant so the whining, the crabbiness, the tantrums are all gone. 

The great thing is that it has opened up my picky eater's palate to new dishes. He is now willing to try new food. I remember, when we first started this ritual, my mom chose LES Bagels. Since he'd never tried a bagel before, I allowed him not to order first. When we got our orders, he tasted my Lox and Isabella's Bacon & Cheddar. He loved the Bacon & Cheddar and ordered one for himself. Nowadays, Noah has learned to find something he likes on the menu of any restaurant we go to. I end up describing dishes to him and he enthusiastically chooses the one he fancies the most from my description. From a kid who only ate fried chicken, 4-cheese pizza and waffles, his list of fave food has expanded to include mushroom risotto, tempura, panizza and tocino. 

Now, it's so common to hear an excited "Who's turn is it to pick today?" when we get inside the car after church. And now, I don't even have to be the one to answer because they try to figure it out for themselves, recalling where we ate the previous Sunday and who chose. They're even so protective of other people's turns. My always-self-sacrificing mom often offers to give up her turn for them. But they refuse. They actually want her to have a turn. I just love the selflessness this weekly ritual has taught them. 

Lastly, in this world of instant and automatic, it's nice that this ritual has taught them to wait 3 Sundays before they get their turn. I especially like that the wait is so long, it's not time they can kill playing with their gadgets.

To be honest, this resto turn ritual is something I cooked up because I was very tired of the restos we always ate in. But it didn't just expand our resto choices. It also lengthened their patience, stretched Noah's EQ, broadened his palate and widened their concern for others.

Photo from annnniegirl.

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