Vacation Frustration

Did you know that I am psychic?? I am. I have the awesome power of ESP but only in very specific instances - OK actually just one. I can walk into any restaurant in the United States whether it be in Florida or Colorado or wherever and tell you without ever seeing a child's menu what is on it. Though to be fair - any Mom who has a child from 2 and beyond probably has the same power as me because every child's menu is the same: chicken tenders, grilled cheese, pasta of some sort (including mac n cheese) and cheese or pepperoni pizza. All of them come with a side of fries.

As a mother who prides herself on feeding her children a variety of healthy foods the children's menu frustrates me to no end. In Nashville, we eat out so infrequently that an occasional grilled cheese for dinner isn't a big deal but on vacation when the majority of meals are out a mild annoyance turns into a major dilemma.

The talking heads of the world banter about endlessly about why our children are obese. They really only need to look as far as the children's menu that contains absolutely nothing healthy.

So what is a mother to do? I either have to purchase them a high priced adult meal and leave 80% on the plate (a huge waste) or try to find something on the menu that we both agree on and inevitably I leave the restaurant hungry. Our third option is to bargain with the waitress. "Hey, can you do a child size salmon?" This generally leads to a blank stare and a "Uh, I will have to check on that?"

Am I alone in my frustration??? Does the rest of the world only feed their children fried crap for dinner? Seriously, the general population must feed their kids more than chicken fingers every night? How hard is it to offer, fresh, nutritional, tasty offerings in kid sizes? Maybe their is a lack of demand for it - and that is just sad.

As for dinner tonight - we found a wonderful Italian bistro where we shared appetizers of caprese salad, clams in a white wine sauce and dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. A whole hell of a lot better than mac-n-cheese, but perhaps that is just us.