Eating out at a hawker centre

We seldom eat out physically at a hawker centre. There were a few occasions and they happened to be slightly unpleasant for Caden because in those incidents, we ended up sitting at those seats nearer to the dump area.

So usually Caden is apprehensive when he hears us saying that we will be bringing him out to eat at non-air conditioned places. He'll start nagging that it'll be dirty and smelly and that's when ah Lou will start to cast his eyes on me for indirectly instilling a low tolerance level to eat at hawker centres.

It's not that I dislike the type of food serve. As a matter of fact I grew up loving hawker food and even still crave for some of these local specialities at times. Ever since I become a mother, I felt the level of hygiene is not present especially the kind of dirt you see on those tables. Chairs are not adjustable so I feel that Ethan is not positioned at an appropriate height to eat by himself. I don't have the same resistance if we were to dine in coffee shops, as tables were typically cleaner and chairs are stackable so Ethan can be adjusted to a higher level nearer to the table.

Today ah Lou decided to eat at kovan hawker centre for lunch- and said that we shouldn't pamper the kids so much and they need to be used to eat out at hawker centre. I managed to find them an airy area and diverted the boys attention by keeping them occupied with iPhones while PaPa went off to queue up for their food. It took me three wet wipes to fully clean up the table as the auntie responsible to clear plates was nowhere seen..

While they were obediently eating their lunch, an old couple dropped by our table and asked us to buy tissues. Ah Lou took out a dollar in exchange for 3 packets as usual. Caden asked PaPa for the reason of his gesture. PaPa explained to them that the old man was blind and yet he has to walk around whole day to earn money, so he was helping them by buying the tissues. Caden then asked how are they able to manage with that 1 dollar that they earned? I told them that everyone has to work very hard to earn money in order to buy food and have a shelter to sleep everyday. He seems to understand the difficulties that unfortuate people have to go through so today's lunch was not that unpleasant after all..