With Thanksgiving just a week away many parents are finalizing their holiday menus, decorating the house, and working on the all-important Turkey Day seating chart.
A good hostess knows it’s all about the seating.
After all, who wants World War III to break out between eccentric Aunt Marcie and conservative Uncle Mort as the green bean casserole is being passed?
And they’re adults (supposedly).
So why is it that whenever the holidays roll around kids constantly beg to sit at the grown up’s table? And at what age do you honor their wishes?
For as long as I can remember the kids’ table has gotten a bad rap. Unless you were part of a smaller family that gathered around a single table, then I’m sure you remember being banished to the kids’ table. In most cases it was a flimsy card table or a couple of your mom’s end tables from the living room squeezed together with a plastic tablecloth thrown over top. And those hideous chairs… the chairs were the worst part. Piecemealed seats gathered from different rooms in the house and sometimes a few plastic beach chairs dragged in from the garage. Not exactly dinner at The Ritz.
To curtail the complaints regarding seating arrangements some parents threaten their children. (“Sit and behave or no dessert for you.”) Others employ bribes (“If you sit and behave I’ll let you have two pieces of pie for dessert.”), while others throw down the Santa card (“If you don’t sit and behave Santa’s going to put you on his naughty list.”)
Whatever works, right?
It’s unfortunate that as a child you don’t often see the perks of sitting at the kids’ table. Besides not having a parent constantly badger you about eating your vegetables, it’s also much easier to get away with unruly behavior. One year my then 5-year-old brother snuck a few of his Hot Wheels vehicles to the kids’ table and drove them through a wall of buns into a pool of gravy for a good 10 minutes before my mom discovered what was going on.
Once children make the transition from the kids’ table to the adult’s table, it usually doesn’t take long for them to realize that they weren’t missing much for the last 12 or so years. Adults are so darned serious… and boring.
When did you make the transition to the adult’s table? Do your kids balk about sitting at the children’s table?
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