Thursday, December 17, 2009

Eye of the Tiger

It's been my experience that children become vested, to the point of obsession, with the place mat drawings they create at restaurants. My own kids, who I can never get interested in coloring at home, despite repeated efforts, reach out and grab at those crayons like drowning men grasping for life rings as soon as the waitress puts them on the table.
And where do restaurants purchase their crayons anyway? Some kind of crayon bargain basement? Tonight the kids got six crayons between them, two shades of green, one yellow (that looked a lot like green), one tan and two blacks. With no blue, no red, no purple and no orange, it's a wonder they could draw anything - but I digress.
C and H were coloring with the intensity of Gericault holed up in his studio working on "The Raft of the Medusa." Both kids folded up masterpieces before dinner arrived as they - heaven forbid - didn't want to dirty them up. After we were done eating H even pulled his drawing out again and started back in working on it.
But as captivated as they are with those drawings at the restaurant, they always end up left in the back seat of the car when we arrive home; my children having forgotten about them as quickly as, say, celebrities and politicians forget their wedding vows.

song: Eye of the Tiger • artist: Survivor

2 comments:

Kelly said...

I actually carry 2 small boxes of crayons (4 each) that I got from some restaurant, so when they start fighting over the colors of what is offered, I just pulled them out and thats seems to shut them up.

Same thing, they bring them home and forget about them, and I then put them in the recycling. I have a small amount of mom guilt about it, but how many of the same picture do we need.

Joanne said...

Carrying your own crayons is a great idea. I never think of stuff like that. Although I can play a mean game of restaurant I Spy when everyone starts loosing it and our order hasn't arrived yet.
I just think it's so funny that the boys are so obsessed with these drawings at the restaurant and then they forget about them so quickly that they don't even make it in from the car when we get home.