Pro Tip: Entertaining Children While Waiting at a Restaurant

Jacko couldn't wait for his IHOP meal to arrive. He had ordered Kraft macaroni and cheese, as well as red velvet pancakes (which were surprisingly good, says the red velvet hater Holly). With one waitress working the whole restaurant, there was a delay in our order arriving.

Luckily, the kid menu came with a large blank space for coloring.

I asked Jacko what his favorite things to do in the summer are, and I drew each one in succession. His list was as follows:

• Skateboarding
• Drinking out of a can
• Reading a newspaper
• Riding his bike
• Playing Yo Gabba Gabba games online
• Recycling
• Playing Transformers

He has never read a newspaper, he doesn't own a bike, and I was surprised that he knew what recycling was.

But this distraction was perfect. He had fun imagining things he'd like to do, he liked watching me "draw," and he knew that I was paying attention to him. He enjoyed having a keepsake of this silly moment; our long wait turned into one of those "family memories."

I asked Caleb what he likes to do in the summer, to which he replied, "I like to wrestle with dinosaurs. Have fun drawing that."

I lucked out when the waitress finally came with our food. But look, I was able to draw Caleb's beard on his stick figure!