Oh the sacrifices we must make....

I think the few times I went to a Golden Corral there was a hostess who seated customers.

Yes, the salad bar and cold items were pretty good, but the hot foods left a lot to be desired. It's not that they were all awful, just blah. Some things WERE awful. Still, a big step up from the slop Old Country Buffet served.
That sounds like our Bonanza restaurants. They were good back in the day, then they closed and re-opened 10 years later and the food was "meh". I went there a few times because when you're with a big group, buffet is a good idea but I don't like "all you can eat" desserts when people don't look after their kids. This included two kids who were in our party once. One of them took copious amounts of cheese, chewed it up and spat it back out on his plate. Then he and his brother went and got mashed potatoes and gravy, stopped at tthe dessert bar and put sundae toppings on it, got mixtures of pop and chocolatte milk. That time though, grandma was there and she made them eat their "sundaes" and drink their drinks.
 
I remember when one of these first opened in my city and it was pretty good the first time I went. Boy did it go downhill quickly though. After the second time I would never go back. I think they're all closed around here now. We do have a couple of good independent Chinese buffets though, that also have the typical American food. I'm not big on buffets in general (excepting Disney ones), but if I have too, they'll do pretty well.

They tried twice in my town. They built one and it went out of business. Several years later they built another, then it also closed.
 
The chocolate fountain is what get's me....all it takes is ONE kid to put their stickly little hand in there - oops! - and the whole recycled batch is ruined.

Blech....

We have learned to give our kids acceptable-to-us-choices when it comes to rewards or treats, so we don't have to take one for the team when we told DS he could pick anywhere he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner a few years ago. He picked McDonalds. We said, how about Red Robin? He said no.

So, off to McDonalds we went. The next year, we gave him the choice - pizza, burgers, or something else? Here's a list of places you can pick from!
 


I think the few times I went to a Golden Corral there was a hostess who seated customers.

Yes, the salad bar and cold items were pretty good, but the hot foods left a lot to be desired. It's not that they were all awful, just blah. Some things WERE awful. Still, a big step up from the slop Old Country Buffet served.

No hostess at this particular location. When you come in there's a register where you pay and get your drink. You seat youself and get your own plates/utensils. A server comes to refill drinks and clear plates. Not sure how they monitor how many tables each server has as we had the same one the whole time. I'm sure there's controversy on tipping but I left 20%
 
The chocolate fountain is what get's me....all it takes is ONE kid to put their stickly little hand in there - oops! - and the whole recycled batch is ruined.

Blech....

We have learned to give our kids acceptable-to-us-choices when it comes to rewards or treats, so we don't have to take one for the team when we told DS he could pick anywhere he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner a few years ago. He picked McDonalds. We said, how about Red Robin? He said no.

So, off to McDonalds we went. The next year, we gave him the choice - pizza, burgers, or something else? Here's a list of places you can pick from!

Yes the fountain is gross. Luckily my kid is allergic to strawberries and oranges (both are available to dip in the fountain) so I said no. They brought him some chocolate from the back :thumbsup2

I only have one kid otherwise I'd probably limit choices too. He worked really hard and there really is nothing the same (or similar but better) as golden corral...which is what he really wanted.
 


They opened one here for the first time a couple of years ago. Still haven't been. May have to try it now since all the Home Town Buffets here closed last week. Been about 4 years since I was there.
 
Yes the fountain is gross. Luckily my kid is allergic to strawberries and oranges (both are available to dip in the fountain) so I said no. They brought him some chocolate from the back :thumbsup2

I only have one kid otherwise I'd probably limit choices too. He worked really hard and there really is nothing the same (or similar but better) as golden corral...which is what he really wanted.

Not to go off topic, but I can't pass this one by.

Mine is one of 3 and works hard, too, beleive it or not. Probably even harder since he is the family peacekeeper between his older sister and brother.

Is there something special about only having one child that makes it so that parents feel it is OK to use that to justify doing whatever that kid wants? I'm confused by that statement. You only have to answer to one kid instead of two or three, so it's OK to let them make the choices for your family, and then come on a message board and gripe about it?
 
Not to go off topic, but I can't pass this one by.

Mine is one of 3 and works hard, too, beleive it or not. Probably even harder since he is the family peacekeeper between his older sister and brother.

Is there something special about only having one child that makes it so that parents feel it is OK to use that to justify doing whatever that kid wants? I'm confused by that statement. You only have to answer to one kid instead of two or three, so it's OK to let them make the choices for your family, and then come on a message board and gripe about it?

It's possible you might be reading a bit much into that post to conclude the OP intended to tell you that her only child was somehow more special than your multiples.

I'm sure your children are very special, too. ;)

Edited to add: I can think of many reasons a parent of an only might opt for a Golden Corral birthday, when they wouldn't if they were the parent of multiples. Expense. The agony of three or more Golden Corral visits in a year. Wrangling multiple kids in a place like that.
 
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At least you got Golden Coral. We did the same thing when our son was around 8 or so and he chose Old Country Buffet. Live and learn. Never made that mistake again.
 
It's possible you might be reading a bit much into that post to conclude the OP intended to tell you that her only child was somehow more special than your multiples.

I'm sure your children are very special, too. ;)

Edited to add: I can think of many reasons a parent of an only might opt for a Golden Corral birthday, when they wouldn't if they were the parent of multiples. Expense. The agony of three or more Golden Corral visits in a year. Wrangling multiple kids in a place like that.

Yes, I'm sure I read into that off the cuff statement wrong. But the OP specifically pointed out that because her child is an only, he gets what he wants because he works hard. I didn't know you had to be an only to get perks because you work hard. Just wondered what made it so different to tell an "only" that they can go/do *whatever* than it is to tell one of 3? I was one of 6, and I have three, so maybe I am missing something. Maybe the OP can let us know exactly what she meant by that?

And my children don't need to be told they are special, but thanks. Nor have I ever had to wrangle them anywhere we have gone because they don't act crazy in public, but thats not really the point. And apparently, McDonald's charges $7-8 bucks for a meal these days, so I cannot honestly think that Golden Coral is that much more expensive? SO, not sure where you are going with that point either...but I am too lazy to look it up, so if you want to correct me, feel free! But I do agree with you on the agony of three visits - even one would be too much for me, hence the reason we don't give our kid (s) free reign to make open-ended decisions!

I honestly don't care where she takes her kid for his birthday, I am only perplexed by the "only" statement. I didn't bring it into the coversations - she did. And now my fair-game question is - Why does it matter if a kid is an only?
 
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Yes, I'm sure I read into that off the cuff statement wrong. But the OP specifically pointed out that because her child is an only, he gets what he wants because he works hard. I didn't know you had to be an only to get perks because you work hard. Just wondered what made it so different to tell an "only" that they can go/do *whatever* than it is to tell one of 3? I was one of 6, and I have three, so maybe I am missing something. Maybe the OP can let us know exactly what she meant by that?

And my children don't need to be told they are special, but thanks. Nor have I ever had to wrangle them anywhere we have gone because they don't act crazy in public, but thats not really the point.

I honestly don't care where she takes her kid for his birthday, I am only perplexed by the "only" statement. I didn't bring it into the coversations - she did. And now my fair-game question is - Why does it matter if a kid is an only?

I'm sure the OP will, eventually. It's SO easy to say something off the cuff and end up offending people.

Congrats on your well behaved children, by the way. Mine definitely acted "crazy" at times, though I didn't always consider that poorly behaved (assuming we weren't in a restaurant or theatre)... Just crazy. There was the "I can only wear black because I am a black cat" phase. The "I want to sing songs of praise to Jesus that I made up myself at the top of my lungs!" phase. The, "I'm a baby lamb, so I will crawl everywhere baaing" phase. The "I hate loud noises, they make me scream," phase. The, "Don't touch me, I bite!" phase. And the, "I adore your wheelchair, may I fondle it?" phase.

Everywhere we went, people would make comments to me along the lines of, "You sure have your hands full!"

I think "crazy" is just part and parcel of being a kid, but I may be wrong about that. (They grew up pretty fine in the end, anyway.)
 
I'm sure the OP will, eventually. It's SO easy to say something off the cuff and end up offending people.

Congrats on your well behaved children, by the way. Mine definitely acted "crazy" at times, though I didn't always consider that poorly behaved (assuming we weren't in a restaurant or theatre)... Just crazy. There was the "I can only wear black because I am a black cat" phase. The "I want to sing songs of praise to Jesus that I made up myself at the top of my lungs!" phase. The, "I'm a baby lamb, so I will crawl everywhere baaing" phase. The "I hate loud noises, they make me scream," phase. The, "Don't touch me, I bite!" phase. And the, "I adore your wheelchair, may I fondle it?" phase.

Everywhere we went, people would make comments to me along the lines of, "You sure have your hands full!"

I think "crazy" is just part and parcel of being a kid, but I may be wrong about that. (They grew up pretty fine in the end, anyway.)

Haha...no offense taken either way for either issue. Just insanely curious how the "only" dynamic works since this isn't the first time I've come across parents of onlys saying stuff like that.

One of mine wore a headband with Hello Kitty ears on it everywhere she went - even to Chrsitmas dinner with the grand[parents one year, so she could be a real cat. I just showed her a picture of it the other day - now that she is almost 12, she looked at it and said "Why would I ever do that!" But that didn't mean she ran amuck in a buffet. So, no points to me for the crazy, but I'll take it for teaching them to have manners in a resturant. I'll take it however I can get it!

ETA: Your kids sound hilarious, BTW. I love seeing well-behaved kids bring their crazy quirks out. Makes me smile every time, especially now that mine are older and are embarrassed by ME in public! Tables are now turned.....and I love it!
 
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Haha...no offense taken either way for either issue. Just insanely curious how the "only" dynamic works since this isn't the first time I've come across parents of onlys saying stuff like that.

One of mine wore a headband with Hello Kitty ears on it everywhere she went - even to Chrsitmas dinner with the grand[parents one year, so she could be a real cat. I just showed her a picture of it the other day - now that she is almost 12, she looked at it and said "Why would I ever do that!" But that didn't mean she ran amuck in a buffet. So, no points to me for the crazy, just for having manners in a resturant. I'll take it however I can get it!

That's adorable!

Anyway, one of the reasons your response interested me is because I was an only. So I can tell you a little about the dynamic in my home (though I obviously can't speak for the OP).

I have two kids and my husband sometimes says that we that if we'd had more than two, we wouldn't have been able to afford all the extras we paid for. Fewer trips to Disney. No saxophone for the boy. No dissection lessons for the girl. That sort of thing. And I do know that my attention was often split between the two of them, which meant sometimes one or the other got overlooked.

So, in theory, if we'd had one then that one child would have got even MORE opportunities to eat out at restaurants, more lessons, more trips, etc. More money, and more attention, too. We could have given that kid everything, without having to juggle the needs of other kids and without worries about whether we were being "fair".

However, having been an only, I can tell you that more is definitely not always better. I was the sole focus of all my mother's attention and worry. Every little thing I said or did was scrutinized and analyzed. My days were scheduled down to the half hour... when she was home. Because, she was a working single parent, so there were also long stretches of time when I was completely by myself. It was all or nothing, all the time. I asked Santa several years in a row to bring me a little sibling. She thought it was because I wanted a playmate, but the truth was that I thought a baby would give my mum something else to focus on, that wasn't me!

I expect every family size has its positive and negative aspects. But I deliberately chose to have more than one, due to my experience of being an only. Heck, I would have had more than two, if my husband had been on board for it.
 
That's adorable!

Anyway, one of the reasons your response interested me is because I was an only. So I can tell you a little about the dynamic in my home (though I obviously can't speak for the OP).

I have two kids and my husband sometimes says that we that if we'd had more than two, we wouldn't have been able to afford all the extras we paid for. Fewer trips to Disney. No saxophone for the boy. No dissection lessons for the girl. That sort of thing. And I do know that my attention was often split between the two of them, which meant sometimes one or the other got overlooked.

So, in theory, if we'd had one then that one child would have got even MORE opportunities to eat out at restaurants, more lessons, more trips, etc. More money, and more attention, too. We could have given that kid everything, without having to juggle the needs of other kids and without worries about whether we were being "fair".

However, having been an only, I can tell you that more is definitely not always better. I was the sole focus of all my mother's attention and worry. Every little thing I said or did was scrutinized and analyzed. My days were scheduled down to the half hour... when she was home. Because, she was a working single parent, so there were also long stretches of time when I was completely by myself. It was all or nothing, all the time. I asked Santa several years in a row to bring me a little sibling. I thought a baby would give my mum something else to focus on, that wasn't me!

I expect every family size has it's positive and negative aspects. But I deliberately chose to have more than one, due to my experience of being an only. Heck, I would have had more than two, if my husband had been on board for it.

Thanks for that! I appreciate it!

For the record, I hated having so many siblings growing up although (since it was 5 girls and 1 boy) my sisters are my absolute best friends in the world now and I couldn't imagine not having them here, and I only wanted two at most. Then when #1 was born, I was perfectly happy for a while with him being the only one, and it took 4 years (almost to the day - their b-days are one day apart) to convince me to have the 2nd.

#3 was our little surprise LOL But he turned out to be a pretty cool kid, so we were good with it! haha

ETA: I'll tell you what, though, my #1 is much older than the other two (19 months between the youngers) and he has pretty much been raised as an only. So I kind of having a taste for what it's like - and he certainly acts like one! (and that's bad AND good, so I'm not judging by any means!)
 

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