7 Chick-fil-A Mom Hacks

I’ve been reading a lot here lately. Particularly about blogging. “Write about what you do well,” all the books say. Ummm.. ok. I’m not sure what it says about me, but the first thing that came to my mind was, “I’m a professional Chick-fil-A mom.” Yep. That was the very first thing. But it’s true. I have it down to a science… by necessity.

My son, Worth, and I have what we call “mommy/son team” on Tuesday. It’s my day off, and he stays home with me while Chase (baby daddy/husband) works. But really and truly… it’s also the ONLY consistent day of the week that I have to catch up on errands (grocery shopping, dry cleaning, going to the bank, etc.)  These things need to be done (for my sanity) but I also want to spend quality time with my son. While it would be awesome to have Tuesday just as a day that we make memories and spend time together, that’s just not practical for my family- especially every week.. I’m a wife, mom, and I own a business. These things overlap A LOT, and that’s OK! I’m learning to embrace it and make the most of it. On Tuesday I do it with my favorite tool: Chick-fil-a.

If your child is anything like mine, you know if they are tired and/or hungry, you might as well throw in the towel and not even try. To address the first issue, we go in the morning well before nap time. Chick-fil-a is our saving grace on the second issue; getting hangry. Pretty much, I have 3 goals when go to Chick-fil-a:

• Eat (so that I can get stuff done- just being honest here.)
• Spend time together (without going to the playground area. Yep, he’s never been.)
• Get in and out, fed and happy.

Ok, some of you just threw me into the “bad mom” category because I don’t let my child go to the play area. But let me explain, this day is about 2 things: Worth and I being together, AND getting errands done. That play area isn’t made for adults. So, me just watching him play is not what I want. I know that day is probably coming when he’s older. But for now, I have an alternative solution that I will let you in on and has a 100% success rate; stay with me here.

He’s 2 and I like to monopolize on the fact that he gets excited over just about anything. For my son, Tuesday also means Chick-fil-A. We go almost weekly, and we have our routine nailed down.

It all starts the day before you go to Chick-fil-A. I always tell him the night before to give him some thing to look forward to the next day. This makes a huge difference, believe it or not. He’s that much more excited to be there if I mention it to him well in advance.

The hacks:

1. There is a disposable plastic placemat by the condiments that you can put down on the table. Call me a germ freak, call me OCD, but this piece of plastic is GOLDEN in my mind. It gives him a clean (less germy) area to eat. It’s great for clean-up AND it’s educational. While we wait, we go through the ABCs. He loves it. 2. They have sanitizing wipes. Y’all! This is huge for me. When your child spent the first 2 years of his life in-and-out of the doctor’s because every minor cold he got turned into a double ear infection, you take every precaution. It also teaches him to “wash” his hands before eating.
   
2. Prayer.  For me this is important because it teaches priories, patience, and self-control as well being thankful for our food; something we all take for granted.
3. This is a fun part. Once he’s eating, I unload the rest of the bag. See that red dotted line? Fold there. Y’all, the bag is a puppet!  We have had so much fun with this. It guarantees to turn heads in the restaurant too; Worth has never minded the extra attention… ever. 
4. The sauce. I let Worth get some sauce and do it himself. My child is a messy eater. MESSY! This is one way I’ve been working with him. He has that plastic mat there if a mess is to happen for easy clean up. 
5. Once he tires of the puppet, the bag becomes our trash bag. And we totally clean up our area and throw all trash in there.
6. Here is his favorite part AND the alternative to not going to the play area. When I order his kid meal, I always ask for the 3 & under toy. You must ask for it while you are ordering!  We stay at the table and I read him the book. This is seriously his absolute favorite part and quality time spent. Win-win! Chick-fil-a changes the series every couple months (just like other fast food restaurants do with their toys.) There are usually 5-7 books in a series and we try to collect them all. These book are perfect for the car and they hold up so well! I know for a fact that Worth has at least 7 at home right now and 5 in the car. He was reading one in the car this morning. 
   There you have it! Seriously, we do this almost every week and it never gets old. Take some photos of your next outing with your kiddos and share them with me. It would seriously make my whole day. E-mail me at hello@kaylabrint.com.ps. Want to learn to take great photos of your kids just like this with a fancy DSLR camera (those nice cameras that you can change the lenses on?) I can help! Click here to join the waiting list and get early access to sign up for my Mom Photography School!