MARK MY WORD: FAMILY FINDS ADVENTURE IN DINING OUT

Dining out is still an adventure.

It's not like joining the Navy, but it's still risky.

Our oldest daughter, Becca, is 8 years old. Her sister, Bailey, is 4 years old.

Like most parents, we figure practice makes perfect. That's why Joni and I continue to take our children to area restaurants.

It's not that we're trying to put the waiters and waitresses through some sort of boot camp. We just like to eat out from time to time.

The other night, we went to one of our favorite fast-food restaurants for a sit-down meal.

This was truly a fast-food restaurant, although over the years we've been known to turn even fine dining into fast food or at least fast eating.

You've got to eat fast sometimes just to get out of the restaurant before there's a major spill at your table.

At any rate, both girls couldn't sit still the other night while seated in a restaurant booth.

Becca came down with a severe case of jumpitis, a disease that particularly strikes 8-year-old girls who have watched too many Britney Spears videos.

She couldn't sit still. She gulped down her chicken fingers and was immediately ready to run out the door.

She kept getting up, only to sit down again at our insistence.

Bailey, on the other hand, fell into a major gravity hole which caused her to continually slide toward the floor.

Joni was constantly having to grab hold of her and rescue her from the unseen monster that seemed to be tugging her down.

At one point, Bailey's shoes fell into the gravity hole.

Fortunately, the food stayed on the table.

Normally, Bailey has a good appetite. But the other night the gravity monster kept distracting her. She couldn't sit up long enough to eat a few chicken fingers without constant encouragement and a few admonitions from her parents.

Becca, on the other hand, devoured her food, a strange occurrence for a girl that seldom sees a meal that she likes.

When it comes to eating out, it helps to keep the lids on the children's drinks. This eliminates the serious flooding that otherwise can turn a table into a gooey, sticky soda mess.

Those plastic lids rank up there with some of the great inventions of the 20th century. They also have proved to be a big help for the straw industry.

Of course, that doesn't stop your children from wanting to drink from large, adult, no-lid glasses.

Bailey kept taking long sips of my root beer after which she smiled at me with her best mischievous smile. The fact it didn't have a lid just added to her enjoyment of my root beer.

Despite Becca's jumping-bean attitude and Bailey's slip-sliding, it actually proved to be a good dining experience.

Bailey even came away with no noticeable food on her clothes. She often comes home from day care wearing her lunch. But this time, she managed to keep the ketchup on her plate.

One day, our children will graduate to more sedate dining experiences. Gone will be those eating experiences that more resemble a children's game show.

But for now, we'll just ask for extra napkins.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.