We caved and went to Hooters for our son's birthday

Almost a year ago our then 7 year old son announced out of the blue, "I want to go to Hooters."  Figuring he'd forget about the request in 10 months, The Huz flippantly answered, "Maybe for your birthday we can go to Hooters." The Huz and I joked with one another about what kind of RSVP's we would get if we sent out birthday party invites to all of Son Two's friends, "Please join us at Hooters as we celebrate our son's 8th Birthday!" According to The Huz, all the dads would definitely be bringing their kids to that party. We both rolled our eyes and we thought that was the end of it. 

Stupid us. About 3 months ago I was driving Son Two past a Hooters and he intently peered out of the car window and announced, "I see the Hooters! I see them. Oh wait, there's a man in there. I bet he's got man boobs."  What??? Did my 7 year old just say "man-boobs?!" WTF?  Where did he pick that up? I'll admit we've used the term "man-purse" on occasion in our family, but "man-boobs"? Um. No.

I didn't respond, I figured the less I give it attention, the less likely he would be to use the expression again.  I also figured we had three more months for him to forget about going to Hooters for his birthday.

Guess what? That kid of ours has a mind like a steel trap. Today we asked him where he would like to go for lunch to celebrate his birthday and without missing a beat the answer came right back to us, "I want to go to Hooters."  Oh holy hell.

We caved. We went to Hooters for lunch. Why did we do this? Because we figured once he actually got to eat there, the mystery would wear off and he might just gt it out of his system.  So we decided to test the theory.

Upon arriving at Hooters, there were several servers outside hula hooping. Son Two looked about as comfortable with them as I am around clowns.  We walked quickly past them and to our table inside. Son Two did not want us to mention to the Hooters girls (women? ack!) it was his birthday.  He just wanted to order some steamed shrimp and watch soccer on the big screen TVs.

At one point two of the servers came over and asked our sons about what grades they are in and where they go to school.  The conversation turned to SOLs and how one of the servers still remembers the pressure of taking those damn tests in 6th grade. She is now attending George Mason University where she is studying to become a teacher.  I'm fairly confident The Huz was experiencing a serious Van Halen inspired flashback to 1984.

I think a highlight of the experience happened when Son Two offered, "I think Hooters are small."  A funny choking sound emanated from The Huz.  This is a perfect time to mention there will be times when kids say one thing and often might mean another so a follow up question might be in order. I asked Son Two,"What do you mean small? What's small?"  and Son Two answered, "I thought it would be bigger inside this place, it's not very big here. I thought it would be a really big building on the inside."  The Huz shot me a grateful look.

Well, glad we got clarification on that point. Otherwise it could have turned into a very different conversation.  Kind of like that joke about the seven year old who asks his parents, "Where did I come from?" and his parents take him to his bedroom, get out every book on the topic they have spent years collecting for just this moment and explained everything they think their son needed to know about sexual attraction and reproduction. After about an hour or so of painstakingly going over all the information, the parents then asked their little boy "Now, does that answer your question?"

Their son gives them a look and says, "Not really. The new kid in our class says he's from New Jersey and I wanted to know where I came from." 

Is one lunch going to undo all of what we have taught our sons about feminism? Nah. In fact, this visit only underscored what we have taught our sons; respect the choices/decisions of others even if we may not make the same ones in our family.  As for the skimpy uniforms? The truth is my sons  have seen far more revealing bathing suits on girls and women at the neighborhood pool and at the beach.  I'm not saying I think the uniforms are satisfactory to me, I am not a fan of them by any means, but they are hardly the most risque things my kids have ever seen.  In fact, Son One still remembers our Disney Cruise which stopped at St. Maarten. He refers to that beach as "The Naked People Place" and he was 4.5 years old at the time.

Will we be adding Hooters to the regular eateries where we flock to as a family? No. It's a chain and we prefer to support local restaurants. For now, I think we're done with Hooters, but ask me again when Son One hits high school because at that point in his life, I suspect he and his friends will be talking about hooters more often.

When Devra isn't taking her 12.5 year old and 8 year old sons to Hooters, she can be found blogging at Parentopia and Loser Moms.

An original DC Metro Moms Blog Post.