Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Kindness of Strangers


Last night, after Caden and his team won in the quarter finals of their tournament in the Stoney Creek Winterlude, I promised to take him to the Mixed Grill for his favourite meal: lamb lollipops.

Caden is such a delightful little guy; he has the brightest gray eyes, full of fun and mischief!

So, Heather comes over and my little guy orders corn meal encrusted calamari with chipotle sauce for his appetizer and lamb lollipops with a half order of french fries. I have the chicken special. I asked him about his game. His best moment and what he thinks he might change for the next game. We had a nice little conversation then he took himself off to wash his hands before the meal arrived.

The meal arrives, we eat and chat about hockey (the Canadian Junior team was playing Russia during our meal), the upcoming school year and his hopes to get an Eagle Award, what camps he'd like to attend in the summer - he's asking about Cricket - seriously?, why he prefers the Wii Mario Cart over the DS version and yet another rendition of "Hey There, Delilah" since it's his favourite song. I so enjoy Caden-led conversations, they are all over the place.

Then it's time to pay the bill. We ask for the bill and Heather brings it over. She sits down and starts "about the bill ..." As it turns out, the couple who had been sitting across from us were so impressed with Caden ordering calamari and lamb, his very polite behaviour, and having a conversation with his mother, they bought us our meal.

Oh my!

Heather continued to explain that the woman has a nephew the same age as Caden and she is loathe to take him to McDonalds, let alone a real restaurant, because he is so poorly behaved. She wanted to reward Caden for being such a good boy. Heather also invited her to come on a Thursday night so that she could see all of my kids since all four are equally well behaved.

Wow.

I am still flabbergasted by the kindness of this complete stranger.

I have had "a day". What a wonderful way to end it and affirm that I'm doing something well! So, if you see a well behaved child, you don't have to buy a meal, but do mention something to that child and their mother. You have no idea how much it is appreciated!

2 comments:

MAM said...

That is just so cool! Good job Mom :) I really don't know how you do it with four. I feel like I barely keep my head above water with one.

Beth said...

Awesome! Caden sounds like my Aiden. I love just talking to him! My kids love calamari, too, but they've never tried lamb. I don't know a place around here that serves it.

Last year someone bought our meal, and I've had compliments on the kids' behavior in restaurants before, usually on *MY* worst days. The compliments are a real boost to my morale, so I do try to "pay it forward" when I see other kids that are well behaved. It's a shame that manners and good behavior are so seemingly rare that people think it's refreshing to see good kids, huh?