Coffee Playground
Can someone please tell me when coffee houses turned into “Mommy/Daddy and Me” hangs? I don’t recall getting the memo that my special time at the local coffee shop was now going to be shared with toddlers and pre-schoolers running all around the area playing tag or using the water fountain as their own personal water park.
I too like to bring my child to Sebastian Joes that in addition to serving gourmet coffee, serves ice cream. My son likes chocolate in a cone and I am happy to oblige between the hours of 2 and 5. That being said….I don’t bring him there before or after those hours. Why? Because it’s ADULT SWIM ONLY! People are there to enjoy their lattes or write the next great novel or simply visit. Not to listen to junior belt out his ABC’s or whatever new rendition of a pop song Sesame Street has locked down. And for some reason the parents are oblivious to their child being an annoyance to everyone around him or her. It’s like they go to some special place that can ‘tune out’ their little tyke dragging the metal chair across the stone floor. If you haven’t had the pleasure, believe me, it aint’ pretty.
And in the summer try getting out the door without tripping over a million strollers. Isn’t that a fire hazard? A friend of mine recently told me about a coffee shop in Brooklyn that now caters to mommies and their children. They bring in a guy who sings to the kids during the day. Seriously! They bring someone in…TO SING! Whaaaat??? I do not pay a ridiculous amount of coin for a coffee to hear The Wheels on the Bus sung by the dude who can’t get an audition for the touring company of Rent.
I love kids. I have one. But I don’t want him or any other child using the gourmet coffee shop as the local playground. It’s one of the comforts away from home that I can go to with my friends…and behave like a child.
xoxo
G
Uncrafty Mama
So here I go…putting my own personal diary out there for all to see. Why? Why do we do this? I obviously cannot speak for anyone other than myself….but my reason is to lessen the guilt I feel as a mother who cannot rise to the occasion, the way so many of my friends can.
Let me start out by saying I have an adorable 4 year old. He is the light of my life. I would do anything for him….I just forget to. The depth of my inability to think beyond the “immediate” is astonishing…even to myself. But the fact that I CONTINUE to think beyond the here and now is borderline criminal.
The weakest link in my son’s social game…is his mother.
Last year was the first time I learned of my deficiency to do anything ‘crafty’. And we are talking preschool crafty. I already knew I wasn’t a crafty person. But I thought I possessed the ability to arm my child with decent Valentines. I was sorely mistaken.
I decided to volunteer at preschool to help hand out Valentines, last year. A word of advice…if for any reason you feel like your Valentine cards may not measure up…STAY HOME! Don’t shame yourself even more by having a child point out that your son’s Valentine cards don’t contain candy, a pencil, stickers or a twenty dollar bill. So this little boy in my son’s class approached me. He shamed me right to my face about the lame Valentine card. And all I could do was stand there and take it.
So this year, I thought…I won’t be caught with my pants down. My son will have kick ass Valentine cards to hand out. And I was going to get them before anyone else did! So I went to Target…because that’s where all of the good Valentine swag is, and I looked high and low for great Valentine cards AND little friggin’ stickers to put with them. I found some ‘good enough’ ones. I mean these kids are 4! Are they really going to sit and compare who has the better card??? I just didn’t want my kid to be embarrassed. Low bar, I know…but it is what it is.
So I bought the goods. My son will go next week with his cute little cards and stickers and hand them out. And I am quite proud.
However…this morning I went to FB and saw a dear friend of mine had posted photos of her children’s Valentines. Oh my god. First of all….my friend is the craftiest mother I know. And I kind of hate her. Not because she so artistic, but because she does it with such ease. And did I mention that while my one kid is kicking my ass with his needing Valentine cards….she has TWINS!! An adorable little girl and boy…both younger than my son. Their cards were made with love and giggles with a dash of fun on the side. There is no way in hell that they were bought at Target. They were 100% homemade.
So does seeing her fabulous cards inspire me to run to Target to buy arts and crafts to make fun loving cards for my son to bring to school next week? Nope. I decided to create this blog instead.
GiGi
