Just recently, my daughter celebrated her 4th birthday. Nothing fancy, we spent a night out for dinner, just with some close family members. Just to have some fun.
My wife has been eyeing this new Japanese restaurant and this occasion gave us a valid reason to patron this outlet. We received some "good" feedback from friends. So we decided unanimously to go for Japanese food without a second thought.
Upon reaching the restaurant, there were about 6-7 persons in the queue. "The food here must be good!" I said to myself.
On normal days, I’d have turned away as I’m famous for why queue up to pay money while there are other good restaurants around. Not worth the waiting. But that’s a different story, I’ll save it for another day.
Back to the restaurant…
After waiting for a while, a table was made available to us: five adults with three toddlers. Only then did I realize that the space was small and I have to squeeze in (for my size, at least) to be seated. But that’s still okay as the benches were big enough for us.
What amazed me was the hot water tap was just located near the wall and it’s within reach so that we could help ourselves while we enjoy a cup of Japanese green tea.
I didn’t say it out that maybe it’s a good idea to let my daughter sit near the aisle, furthest from the tap. Somehow I didn’t get this message out to the gang.
Soon I regretted of not doing this. While my wife was filling up mugs with hot water, she accidentally hit a mug and splashed some hot water onto our daughter. It’s so sudden and my daughter didn’t expect this, the only thing she could do was screaming and crying. It’s possibly due to the pain as well.
My wife quickly brought her out of the restaurant and I asked for some toothpaste from one of the staff to help my daughter soothe her pain and possible burns. Better still, the staff gave us Savlon to apply.
Luckily, it didn’t pose any danger as the burn was minimal and it’s almost recovered upon reaching home from our dinner.
Then only I sighed with relief.
However, when the moment it happened and for the first time as a dad, it’s heart wrenching to see my daughter suffer in pain. I just can’t describe the feeling. Now I know how many thousand times more terrible it is for parents who lost their children. You’ll never understand until you experience it yourself.
We immediately changed restaurant. Tell you what, of course to a more family friendly and child friendly one. A place which was not as crowded, more spacious with more breathing space. At least we had our dinner with peace of mind there.
Phew! That was close and this hot-water-splashed-on-my-daughter incident teaches us don’t take things for granted and we must think for the kids’ safety before we step into any restaurant.
For the moment, my wife and I have struck out this restaurant from our list of restaurants, at least when our kids are around.