The Kiddies Table

Thanksgiving just passed and hopefully everyone had a wonderful time. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday for a multitude of reasons. Thanksgiving in my house was always a time where we invited many of those close to us that didn't have family nearby. Sometimes we'd even pass up the opportunity to be with our own families to be with those who might otherwise be alone. This lead to some wonderful experiences growing up and made me value friendships as much, if not more than family itself. I also like Thanksgiving because it lacks all the religious nonsense that our other big holidays include. This to me is very important. It's a time to give thanks to those real people around us and those who are not. We don't have to worship false idols and thank them for all the hard work we do. We can thank our mothers and fathers for that meal that has been put in front of us. Sure some do, but the only time I say Grace is if someone with that name happens to be present. Somehow the idea of thanking God for us killing a turkey seems somewhat silly. Finally, the real reason to love Thanksgiving. It's really all about the food. A very integral part in my being.

Like all great things I feel it necessary to point out one thing I have always detested about some Thanksgiving dinners. If there is one "tradition" I can not stand, it is the kids table. Now I understand that some people just don't have a home big enough to accommodate everyone they invite (a topic for another blog), but one thing that truly drives me crazy is this idea that sitting all the children at their own table is acceptable. Thanksgiving is a time for family to be together. The children are part of the family, aren't they? So why should they be banished to another table, or in some cases room. I remember one year, I was about twelve and we went to a cousin's house for Thanksgiving and they had a separate tale for the kids in the kitchen. I refused to sit in there and brought my plate and chair out to the adult table and set it up between my parents. Instead of sitting talking about kiddie stuff, I sat and argued with my mother's cousin about stocks vs real estate and he told me I was a kid and didn't know what he was talking about. Three years later he had lost everyone in the family thousands of dollars in stocks and real estate values had nearly doubled. Maybe there's something to be learned at the kid's table.

I know some people will say the kids love all sitting at their own table. They don't. Think back to when you were a kid. Don't think back to how your parents said you felt. Don't ask a kid, because of course they will say they love it. Think back to that time when you wanted to sit with Grandma or your favorite cousin and you couldn't. It wasn't pleasant. Maybe it's just that my memory is better, but I remember friends, cousins, and other kids all hating it. The worst part about the kids table is that the only time the adults ever came in was to tell the kids to pipe down. Thanks for giving me shit, we were finally making the best of our prison sentence and then the warden told us to eat our food and shut up.

So next year if you have a kids table. Destroy it. Squeeze the little buggers into the big table. They will appreciate being included, they will have much happier memories of Thanksgiving and believe it or not, the adults will enjoy themselves that much more. If Bill Cosby has taught us one thing, it's that Jello pudding pops are delicious...oh yeah, two things. Kids say the darnedest things.