We had a child care situation at the end of the day yesterday, and the best solution I could come up with was to take my eight-year-old son to an event I still wanted to attend—Mommybite’s Jingle Bash, where I knew I’d be among kid-friendly adults who’d understand. In my dreams, Adam would do his homework, eat some dinner, and help out at the New York Family table while I mingled with the other exhibitors. That didn’t happen, of course. But I’m very proud of my Plan B and my new superhero friends. If you’re a local parent, you should know about them too.
Before I hit on Plan B, much of my time was spent fielding comments like these:
“Dad, can I have some soda?”
“I’m bored.”
“Do you want to have a catch?”
“But I don’t want to look people in the eye when you introduce me.”
“I’m bored.”
“Can you get me some more pasta?”
“What time is it?”
But then I happened upon my friends at Lil Yogi’s who have a kind of folksy warmth that always catches me off guard because I so rarely encounter it in the city. This photo of them may convey a sense of the qualities I’m talking about.
Lil Yogi’s, I thought to myself, kids must love you.
“Meet Adam,” I said, undoubtedly with a certain pleading look.
And that was that. They took him in as one of their own, waved me away, and by the time I took him back to go home, he requested one of them as a babysitter.
“Don’t tell her that I asked,” he specified. “Just first see if she’s available.”
Eric Messinger is Editor of New York Family. He can be reached at emessinger@manhattanmedia.com
