I hit a very low point not too long ago in my parenting career. I cruised my favorite fast food drive-thru, parked momentarily to distribute food to my toddler in her carseat, and then fired up my car and continued driving. Toddler had chicken nuggets and fries… a perfectly beige meal. I was scarfing down my fast “food” and started thinking, “What the heck am I doing?!” This is not healthy, uplifting, more efficient or pleasurable at all! It is almost as if I was in a virtual world, ordering virtual food from virtual people and paying with virtual money (credit card). NOT the kind of world I want to raise my children in.
So, the question is, “Why pull through the drive-thru?” Well, toddler was safely and calmly sitting in the car seat and baby was asleep. Who wants to disturb peaceful children, right? I had lots of errands to do, drive-thru bank, drive-thru coffee, drive-thru car wash, drive-thru dry cleaners, drive-thru gas, drive-thru oil change… I could do all my errands while comfortably seated behind the wheel of my car.
I didn’t grow up in a drive-thru world. I remember errands day and it was a long day of the week for little 5 year old Lauren. My mom delivered meals to elderly people who couldn’t leave their homes easily. She dragged me along and made me interact with strangers. I remember getting out of the car at the bank and then getting a sucker from the nice banker. I remember sitting down in a restaurant for the lunch buffet. It was our little “date” squeezed in between errands. Errand day was a long day. It took longer to do fewer errands, but we stopped and talked with people. We interacted. It was not virtual.
American life has become so busy and at the same time so distracting that we hardly ever pause to consider if our “convenient” fast food restaurants make our lives any easier. The food is not quality, the price is not cheaper, it takes many minutes to sit in line and order and it does serious damage to our bodies. Instead of relying upon these modern day “conveniences” we can use other options such as: packing lunches at home, bringing a blanket to pic-nic anywhere convenient, eating fresh fruits and veggies and pb&j. Now that is easy.
So, now I’m making a resolution to fill my life with more options than drive-thru errands. If you’d like to join me in this little experiment I’d love the company! I’ll take it one week at a time… but hope to avoid drive-thru lifestyle for the rest of the year. Maybe it will be so much better that I’ll continue avoiding drive-thrus for life! I want my children to understand that interacting with people in our society, even on busy errands days is vital to our evolution as a society and far more enjoyable than the current modern day alternatives!
-I will not drive thru a drive-thru, myself.
-If I am in a car (that I am not driving) and we drive-thru a restaurant, I will either have prepared a sack meal or will get out and walk inside for my food.
-All banking will be done inside of the bank.
-My family make take my children through drive-thrus without me, but I will attempt to provide them with sack lunch alternatives when possible.
#1 by Sara Peyton at August 25th, 2009
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So I’ve been thinking about this post, Lauren.
Here’s my thought–in this age of texting, twittering and facebooking, this generation is definitely losing the skills developed through face-to-face communication. (Not that these things aren’t great for keeping up with people you wouldn’t normally get to be in contact with!) But the loss of interpersonal relationship skills results in a ruder, coarser society which really does affect communities and makes it a lot harder to be teacher, I should add.
I think that there is great benefit to frequently taking your children to places where they learn to interact with strangers and then maybe even build relationships with these adults they might come in contact with often (like at the bank or the coffee shop). Though this is more likely to be true in a small town, of which I’m proud to be a part!
That said, some days drive-thru is the easiest thing for a mom and the kids!! Technically, w/ drive thru restaurants, dry cleaners, etc. there still is face-to-face contact! But I understand your point. I guess I really just wanted to release you (and others) from the mommy guilt of occasional fast food trips. Some days it’s not worth waking the baby or unloading everyone in the rain, or waiting to fix dinner until you get home and everyone is hungry and crabby. I guess moderation has become a key word for me in motherhood. A “beige” meal once in a while, balanced w/ other colors during the day, is OK!!
And one other thought about the car–as your children get older, you will realize that some of the most valuable parent/kid conversations come when you’re driving. There’s a freedom to share stuff that they might not otherwise be willing to share looking at you face-to-face. Those are the best mommy moments. And that is sometimes worth the price of a kids’ meal!!!
#2 by Lauren at August 25th, 2009
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Great Thanks Sara. I appreciate your feedback. It’s a different world than I grew up in, that’s for sure. Even in a bigger town I knew a different kind of childhood. Like you said, moderation is key. Moderation, however, seems so hard to come by. It’s definitely not advertised, encouraged or familiar. My fast-food/drive-thru fast is a bit extremee… but kinda the point… extreme in the opposite direction! I do look forward to meals that I don’t need to cook and the conversations that will inevitably come with them!