When I'm a Grandma....

My husband works for a general contractor and his latest project was a restaurant.  We won’t talk about the crazy schedule he has worked the last month and the times he worked a very full day,came home for dinner and bedtime and went back to work till 2 in the morning.  Nope won’t share that with you at all

Moving on….it was the grand opening last night and he wanted all of us to go and eat at his restaurant.  This is an actual sit down at the table and wait for your food kind of restaurant.  It is not a fast food joint or Red Robin.  It is super yummy Mexican food that doesn’t have a “Bell” in the name.  We couldn’t get a 12 pack of tacos for $6.00. (couldn’t even get one taco for $6.00) We don’t go to sit down restaurants often because of the cost to feed 7 people and because I have a phobia of one or more of my children having a total meltdown in that sort of restaurant and having to do the “walk of shame” out of said restaurant. 

When we walked in I saw the glances between the hostesses of this large family of children.  Not friendly glances either. So when they seated us SMACK DAB in the middle of the restaurant for ALL to see, I was a bit anxious.  Please sit us in the corner where not everyone and their dog are watching us.  We are a huge spectacle anyway, not many families with 5 children eating at this kind of restaurant in Vegas.

But this night was a Mommy Pay Day.  My kids, all 5 of them were incredibly well behaved.  They were surprisingly patient and happy.  Only one incident of the 2 year old throwing a chip because the salsa was too spicy (handed him my iPhone and he was as good as gold the rest of the night….cheating? maybe, I didn’t care).  They tried new foods and liked them!! I was so proud of my kids.  Maybe the many times we’ve talked about manners and correct behavior in public finally sank in a little bit.  I kept telling them how great they were doing and they beamed.

And then it was my turn to beam.  A sweet woman, probably my Mom’s age came over to me and said, “You have the most beautiful family, you are so blessed.  We have been watching you and are so impressed with how well your children are behaved.”  I almost wanted to cry it made me feel so good.

How many times do we as Moms get compliments like that?  RARELY if ever! We don’t get positive words like that enough and our pay days can be few and far between.  I decided last night that when I’m a Grandma I am going to compliment Mom’s with children in public. 

Then I thought today, why do I need to wait until I’m a Grandma?  Why not start now?  Why not compliment my amazing friends when their kids are well behaved at my house?  Why not compliment people whose children behave well at church?  Why not tell a Mom at the park how cute her kids are and how kind they were to let my children play?

Can you imagine how great we would feel if we did this on a regular basis with each other?  What if instead of comparing and/or criticizing we complimented and uplifted? 

Moms unite!  Let’s uplift and compliment each other more and give each other more Mommy pay days!  We deserve it!