Because I’ve read so many anecdotes of parents with little children who get in trouble in restaurants I have always been hyper alert since the day we started to bring our tots out to eat in restaurants

We normally bring an extra phone (yes don’t judge, when they get fussy and we don’t want them disturbing other diners we give them the damn phone), toys, little books, at times I’d have a crayon or pieces of paper in my bag. The two of us would be on full I’m-not-taking-your-BS-child mode and are always ready to take the kids out in case they get rowdy.

Thankfully that has not happened to us yet. But we are always aware of the fact that there are people who just hate children. Like simply hate them. Those who can’t stand children even when said children are sitting quietly still. They must’ve had a horrible childhood so they carry around this putrid hatred in their hearts.

We are aware that those people exist. We are also aware of the existence of parent shamers who are always ready to jump on you with their judgments the second (not even the minute) your kid starts showing signs of being imperfect in their eyes.

So we often go to restaurants ready and on full entertain-your-child or take them out mode.

Although we haven’t experienced anything unpleasant probably because my children love food so much they stop anything they’re doing or fussing about the moment they see food. They enjoy food aaaa looot!

On to the point of the post.

Today was a busy day of running errands, so we headed to a restaurant for dinner before heading home.

The kids were being their usual selves, dancing, singing, giggling talking to random people and the waiters.

The young ladies beside us kept smiling at my silly toddler obviously amused. One kept smiling at me too!

The couple across us were giggling secretly pointing at my daughter who I felt they found cute and wanted to talk to.

Two teenagers beside us were smiling at my kids pointing at my children probably telling their mommy something sweet.

After dinner my toddler started asking for dessert. But it was a Korean Samgyupsal place and they only had meats and vegetables but no dessert. Just when my daughter was about to get fussy, the mommy beside us handed her a small piece of chocolate.

My tot’s face lit up, she thanked the lady and quietly sat down savoring her treat.

I couldn’t even look the mommy straight in the eye because I was so touched.

It was like she knew exactly how to pacify a little girl and was so aware of what was happening and what my daughter needed at that time.

She had two teenage girls with her and so I thought this was a veteran mom who knows how its like to care for a young child. She gave me a reassuring smile as if telling me “I know, I’ve been there, done that, and I understand”.

This meant the world to an anti mom shaming mother of small children like me. As much as there are vicious people in the world especially online, there are people like this mom who understand.

When it was time for us to go I asked my daughter to say goodbye to the nice lady. Her daughters were smiling at her. The ladies beside us waved my little ones good bye too. On our way out the guy across us leaned closer and said “Bye bye baby girl bye!!”. He was obviously trying to resist pinching my daughter’s cheeks.

The waiters too were smiling at my kids. We apologized for the mess and they said it’s no problem, they seemed used to it.

It was a good Saturday night dinner for my little family, thanks to the crowd around. I can only hope that moms of young children around the world will get to dine with a crowd like that too!