“Dinner Out with the Kids” 

By Ron Stultz

24 April 2006

Recently at an Easter family gathering, one of our 4 children (now grown and married) reminded me of the many times we went “out to dinner” at the grocery store. As she talked about the grocery store dinner out, I realized I had completely forgotten this Friday evening ritual and is worth documenting, as perhaps you should try it yourself with your young kids. 

After a hard week of work and spending very little time with my kids, I would often take the family out to dinner on Friday’s. Sometimes to a sit down dinner place, sometimes to a fast food restaurant, sometimes to a buffet, sometimes to the ice cream store for banana splits but apparently what they enjoyed the most was when I took them to the grocery store, gave each $5 to spend and told them to buy whatever they wanted to eat that night for dinner.  

Once we got into the grocery store and each had their money, it was almost comical to watch they scurry around looking at items and deciding if they want this or that and if they had enough money left to buy all they wanted. And to their credit, I never remember now, any of them spending more than the $5 given to them as they checked out individually. 

Not sure where I got the idea from or if I invented it but think about it: it involved them making decisions, counting up money in their head and trying to get as much for their $5 as possible. Just seems to me that it provided a lot of benefits other than them getting a meal out of it.  

Usual meals: an entry or sandwich, a drink and a desert of some kind.  

Not all that significant in the grand scheme of things but I know it left a lasting positive impression on my kids and that, I think, is a good thing.