Ushering in the New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

We decided to 'treat' ourselves to a New Year's Eve dinner since both boys had a relatively decent late afternoon nap. On the way to the restaurant - our regular favourite - we called up to order our food so that we didn't have to wait too long. Within 2 minutes of sitting down our food and drinks arrived and we immediately started dinner.

The boys were very hungry, starving even, so they sat down quietly and ate their dinner with much gusto. Actually, "attacked the food" is probably more appropriate.

Abang tackled Wan's fish and chips like a rugby player, claiming, "Mmmmmm, yummy, this is the best chicken I ever had!"

To which Daddy replied, "Probably because it's fish."

"Oh." Pause. "Mmmmmm, yummy, this is the best fish I ever had!"

By the way, Abang is just getting better from a bout of the stomach flu so this was his first 'real meal' after 3 days of consuming nothing but plain bread, soup, water and the occasional diluted ribena. So he was very very enthusiastic about his meal.

Adik too, was so hungry that he fed himself some fries while Daddy fed him some rice, noodles and lauk.

Which sets the scene nicely for a very pleasant dinner for us.

Unfortunately, the table next to us had a different plan. It was a big party, about 10 adults and 2 children. Oh, the children. The son is about 6 or 7 years old (definitely older than Abang) and the daughter looks about 18 months old (I'm quite sure younger than Adik). It was terrible! They were running around the table, laughing and screaming. If Atok was with us that night, he would definitely have told them off. For sure. I can imagine his deep, deep frown already.

After becoming a parent, I'm a lot less judgemental. I know we all have our off days. So we watched with some amusement at how it was NOT our kids needing to be restrained. However, after awhile, it wasn't amusing anymore. It was just downright annoying.

The adults were more interested in having their conversation leaving the maid to try and deal with the kids. Occasionally the mother and/ or the father would try and ask them to stop running or stop screaming. But they did it anyway.

Once, the brother stood on his dining chair (I kid you not) and 'walked' across to his dad's chair, standing right behind his dad. And his dad just kept on yakking away! Like, wtf? And the sister was totally maniacal. Maybe she missed her afternoon nap - I certainly recognise the symptoms - but that doesn't excuse the parents from dealing with the consequences. Then another time, they grabbed cutlery and napkins from the next empty table and stood on those chairs instead. The brother went so far as to shake the chair while standing on it.

Nope, no adult in his party told him off. It took a very brave (and obviously very annoyed) waitress to scold him and tell him to get down.

Our boys watched all this with some amazement. Probably wondering how come the adults are not telling them off. We've been wondering the same thing. I know for a fact that Daddy and I would not let our children get out of hand like that. If they needed to burn some energy we'd take turns taking them outside the restaurant to run around. I am also very very sure that Cuz and AJ's parents wouldn't stand for any of that behaviour either.

When we were almost done, Abang complained that all that noise was causing a pain in his ear. No kidding. We rushed and couldn't wait to get out of there. However, as we left, Abang realised he needed to attend to some, um, business so I went with him to the loo.

While we were in the cubicle, we heard "Damian" come in with his mother. His mother was scolding him - obviously had enough of his antics - and then we heard another cubicle door close.

Then all hell broke loose. He was screaming, crying and kept banging on the cubicle door. At one point he screamed for "kakak" whom I assume is the maid. My initial thought was "Wow, the mom can't even go to the loo in peace". Later, it occurred to me that he was more likely on the other side of the door. I suspect his mom 'locked' him in the loo as punishment.

After what really was an eternity for Abang and me, not to mention Abang's overstressed ears from all that ruckus, they left the loo. As they left I heard the mom still scolding him and at one point calling him "demented". I was quite shocked at that. Name-calling your own children? That's not on. And such a strong word. I don't even call my own children "bad boys" when they're pushing my buttons because I'm a firm believer of the saying "There is no such thing as a bad child, just bad behaviour."

Needless to say by then we were only too happy to leave. We praised the boys for their good behaviour.

So here's to an even better 2008 - hopefully with fewer tantrums and screamings. And that goes for the kids too!