Okay, it's not actually called Kid Place, but it has no name so I gave it my own. Technically, the sign outside the restaurant reads "Thai Food Vegetarian Coffee&Tea" but obviously I'm not going to say to my friends, "Hey, wanna go to Thai Food Vegetarian Coffee&Tea tonight?'
On my very first night living in Ayutthaya, I went to this restaurant with a few of my friends. We sat down at a table and an 8 year old boy came over and started to clear the dirty dishes and wipe down the table. Then a few minutes later, another tiny boy (probably 5 years old) brought the menus. Next, the 8 year old came over and took our drink order and brought us our drinks (Cokes, beers, and all). About five minutes later, ANOTHER different boy (probably around 10 years old) wrote down our food order. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but at this point I was seriously thinking, "What kind of place is this? Why are there so many kids? Where are the adults? Do the kids do everything? And most importantly...are the kids cooking our food too?!"Sure enough, ten minutes later, the first boy brought out our food from the back. I was a little skeptical but the food looked and tasted just fine. When we finished, the boys cleared our plates, brought our check, and gave us our change. I literally ate an entire meal at a sit down restaurant and didn't see anyone above the age of 10. Can you only imagine?
After that experience, I deemed this nameless restaurant "Kid Place."
To calm your worries, when we were leaving the mom/cook came out from the back and waved us goodbye. We were quite relieved to know the boys weren't running the whole show - cooking and all.
I have to laugh because I remember when I worked in a restaurant it was a big deal when I turned 19 years old because I could legally serve alcohol in the state of Ohio and here an 8 year old brings out the beers like it's nothing.
As funny as this story sounds, this is actually quite the norm in Thailand. Many children are expected to help their parents with the family business whether it be food stand, restaurant, mini-mart, guest house, etc. I've noticed that oftentimes when Thai people see white people walk into their restaurant they'll immediately send their kids over to take the order. I think it's because (even though limited) the kids usually have better English skills than the parents.
One of my first weeks of school, I gave a small homework assignment to my students. The next class, only 2 of 50 students actually did their homework. Instead, they asked me, "Teacher play game? Play game? Play game?" I was really annoyed. Then, that night I saw some of my students working hard at the night market. For example, one of my students was at his mother's fruit stand and his job was to stand there all night and use a long toothpick to pick every single seed out of all the watermelon she sold.
After that night, I just didn't have the heart to give homework anymore.
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