Quality Time With Family
With four children, weekends are hectic. Sports clubs, parties and homework. Then there’s the mountain of washing, ironing and the weekly shop to contend with! The weekly shop takes longer than it should, and as I take the children with me I spend a bit more than I should. There’s also dealing with tantrums from my 4 year old… I get home needing a large cup of tea!
Finding time to sit down as a family and talk without distractions at the weekend is increasingly difficult. As the children get older, they get busier, the washing mountain grows and so does my shopping list! It all puts strain on our family time at the weekend. Toby Carvery got in touch to ask if they could help take the strain off us this weekend. They offered to take on one of our jobs while we sat down to a roast dinner at Toby Carvery instead.
So, I looked at the most stressful job for me at the weekend..and it’s undoubtedly the supermarket trip. There was a time when I looked forward to the weekly jaunt to the supermarket. But now, it is something I’ve come to dread. So, Toby went shopping for me. I was saved the time spent getting to the shop, doing the shopping, and carrying it all home! There were no arguments about what we were buying, no tears that I wasn’t going down the toy aisle. Instead my shopping magically appeared in my kitchen, while we all sat down to Sunday Roast at Toby Carvery!
Sitting down in a booth which comfortably fitted 6, we were provided with a high chair for N which was clean and easy to adjust. Quickly our waitress Hannah came over and asked us for our drinks order, it was lovely to sit and talk rather than race around the kitchen!
E and Yo and notoriously fussy eaters, and every time we have a roast dinner it is a battle to get them to eat it. However, Toby Carvery also offers alternatives to a roast dinner, and they both chose to have spaghetti bolognese instead! No tears, no frustration, just a big smile all round!
The rest of us indulged in a roast, with all the trimmings! I loved the choice of vegetables, there was so much variety! When you have a roast at home it’s easy to get stuck in the carrots, potatoes and parsnips rut. Toby offered up potato gratin, cauliflower cheese, peas, cabbage and more!
While eating, I heard all about the party that E had been to, in great detail! It was lovely seeing him so animated, and not feeling guilty that I should be doing something else. I do struggle with balancing time with family versus time to get things done. We also talked about what he’d like to do for his birthday – even though it’s not until January! Yo told us about her week at school, and what she was hoping she would be doing over the following week. It’s funny, she’s so tired when she gets in from school that we often don’t hear very much about her day.
The carvery was busy being lunch time on a Sunday, but it had a lovely atmosphere. No one was on their phone unless it was taking a photo or two. Families of all ages were enjoying a meal, and each others company. Staff were friendly and service was prompt but importantly, there was no attempt to rush us. Anyone with young children will understand that you don’t necessarily eat as quickly as a family with older children. There’s time needed to cut up food, wipe faces, discuss the important matters in life. (Like why someone decided to try eating cauliflower and who decided it was edible anyway?)
We left all chatting and in no hurry to get home! It felt like it does on Christmas day when we are all relaxed and there’s nothing to do other than spend time with family. In the car my 7 year old piped up “Oh no… do we need to go to the supermarket now..” and I laughed as I replied no, Toby went shopping for us so we could have that time together instead! Thanks Toby, we loved our quality time together!
Post In Collaboration With Toby Carvery.
