Nov 13 2008
Coasters
I’m a little particular about coaster use in my house. All our tables are wood and all easily show those famous “drink circles” from unsupervised cold beverages. As a result I have every coffee table, end table, and our dining room table continuously stocked with a stack of coasters.
At our dinner table we eat with place-mats so it’s usually not an issue but I do have a pile of coasters in the middle, just in case. Yesterday my son, at the tender age of two, reached frantically for the coasters as we were eating lunch. I almost told him no (assuming he just wanted something to play with) but I decided to let it go and see what happened.
Much to my surprise he grabbed a coaster, set it next to his place-mat, and plopped his cup of milk down on top of it. I thought it was pretty funny (deciding to ignore the implication that I might have a coaster neurosis that I have genetically passed on to my son) so I told him “thank you for using a coaster” and he smiled happily. He did it again at dinner so I think we might be on a roll.
If I can get him to keep this up through his teen years my work as a parent will be nearly complete!
