Posted on Tuesday, 18th August 2009 by Catherine
We have all been there….wondering what the “easiest” way to accomplish something might be then the light blub goes off and we have what we believe to be a “great idea”. I want to share my “light bulb” story with you today.
My oldest is 22 months older than my daughter and back in 2004 when she was born we were going to go to McDonalds. As a side note, I would love to say I never feed my kids fast food and they only eat “organic” food from my garden but lets be real here – 3 kids, one with cancer, we are on the go and don’t forget I am a “simple” chef, very few elaborate meals here!
The one thing I don’t do very often is go in McDonalds for I fear the play area! Long before Mason got sick I feared the germs in the play area but for whatever reason on this winter day I was going to go in and let Mason play. I am thinking through the logistics in my head and it sounds something like this…
I have a 2 year old who probably doesn’t even know McDonalds has a play area, a baby carrier that I would never leave unattended in the play area and only 2 hands to carry food, get drinks, napkins, straws etc. I only have 2 eyes to watch kids and make sure there are no freaky people in the play area. It seems like a bit of chaos may erupt while I visualize making Mason stand in line with me, hold the carrier (and hope my daughter does not wake up). Moms out there are you with me? Dads you too may be able to visualize this multi-tasking adventure.
Then it hits me – why not go through the drive-thru order the food and go in and eat it. This way everyone stays in their seats (in the car) while I am ordering, the food comes packaged in bags and we can walk right in sit down and “play and eat!”. I did it and it worked great, no spilled food on my tray, no unsupervised kids in the play area while I ordered food and everyone was happy!
I know it may not sound like a “brilliant idea” to you but for me it was a simple answer that helped lesson the chaos a bit. It is sometimes the simple things that make situations a bit easier to handle. If an hour of my day can be made less chaotic I am all for it!
If you have any ideas that you use to lesson the chaos factor of life pass them on to me! I would love to hear them and implement them in my life. I hope you have a chaos free day today and if not, maybe the “light bulb” will go off and you will have a brilliant idea to share!
