Food for everyone. Even your pets!
I have two young stepchildren, ages 5 and 7.
They're always super hyped to "open a restaurant", so last summer, they created the theme and atmosphere for one:
Wildwood: Food for everyone. Even your pets!
I let them wear my chef aprons, they vacuum the restaurant daily (hallelujah), and we've even picked out the perfect safari sounds playlist.
But my favorite aspect was when our daughter asked if we could invite the neighbors over for brunch.
My first thought was, "Uhh...no."
The kids have never met the neighbors and we haven't interacted with them much ourselves. I tend to be super protective of anything that I consider “mine”, especially my home.
I can’t say where this mindset came from, and I do think that there are aspects of it that stem from fear.
One of those fears being people overstaying their welcome.
My home is my safe place.
When you visit other people’s homes, you tend to stay longer to show your appreciation or simply make the visit “worthwhile”.
You know what I mean. Who wants to drive to someone’s house, only to leave 30 min later? There’s almost this unspoken mindset of, “Well I left my house for this, so I need to stay as long as possible.”
I generally don’t stay anywhere more than a couple of hours, so it’s safer for me to go to other people’s houses instead of inviting them to mine. This is something I’m working on.
My second thought was, "Holy crap. We don't know our neighbors."
My husband is from a small town of 1,000 people, whereas I’ve grown up in large cities and metropolitan areas.
When you grow up in big cities, getting to know your neighbors isn’t something that happens as often as it does in small towns.
I don’t know Sally’s uncle’s brother who has worked at the same grocery store for 25 years. I don’t know my neighbor’s sister’s mother-in-law who is married to the guy that owns the hardware store up the street.
“Having community” is a popular phrase that I had always heard, but it wasn’t necessarily a lifestyle or experience that I actually lived through via neighbors.
Most of my friends or community were 30+ minutes away, so, I was mostly alone.
As an adult, it doesn’t really phase me much. But to the kids, our neighbors were the obvious solution to our dilemma. Which led me to consider how differently our experience in Wisconsin would be if we did, in fact, know our neighbors.
My third thought was, "Huh. They learned this service-oriented mindset from us. That's wild."
Although they haven’t seen us interact with our neighbors, they have seen us start Bible studies, volunteering, coaching, teaching, etc. They’ve seen our desire to make an impact in the lives of other people, and they wanted to do the same thing in a way that they’re most excited about - opening a restaurant.
So, I texted some friends and asked if anyone was available to visit our restaurant this weekend - and we have a customer 🤗
The kids were over the moon about serving her and her son that Friday, and it was fun to see how they planned to prepare.
My husband and I are ridiculously busy, but I'm loving the realization that our busyness serving others is spurring on that desire in our kids.
But alas, no plan is without a few, very minor hiccups.
On the day that Wildwood Restaurant was set to open...the meltdowns started.
The older kid was picking on the younger one, the younger one was crying about literally everything, and neither wanted to listen.
*woosah*
So, their dad and I decided to cancel opening day, and asked them to play separately.
I relaxed on the couch, dad made lunch, our daughter was in my walk-in closet where she likes to hang out alone, and our son played a game by himself.
The entire energy in the home shifted.
Why? Because everyone needed "Me" time.
When you spend most of the day, cramped with 3 other people in a tiny apartment, you begin to crave a place that's just for you. So we made that happen before pushing ahead.
After an hour, our son asked me to play a board game and our daughter joined in.
Each person had their time to reset, which allowed everyone to come together in a better place than they were before.
It's important to recognize when you need space - and then take it. You might find that you're better for it.
But eventually, we did it!
Wildwood opened for business ✨
The youngest learned how to greet guests, take their order, and serve food/drinks.
The oldest learned how to prep, expo, and keep the dinner flow moving efficiently.
I told her that cooks don't sit down for dinner, they eat in the kitchen standing up, and she was ready to actually do that when dinnertime came 🤣
Luckily, our guests invited both cooks to join us in the dining room.
One drink was spilled on the carpet, our littlest guest almost destroyed our TV, and spaghetti sauce ended up on a white pillow - but Chef Dad sprung into action in no time flat.
We finished the experience with a dance party and an episode of Bluey.
Our customers even left a 5 star review and asked to return once we reopen for summer service!
All in all, it was a solid soft opening, and I look forward to seeing how Wildwood grows for years to come.
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