Never pay for your child's restaurant meal again...

About a week ago, I took my family out for one of those impromptu, unplanned dinners out, and immediately, I was both glad and frustrated at myself. It's fun to go to a restaurant, which is why I was happy with this dining decision, but with two daughters, 4 and 6, my wallet is still occasionally in shock when it sees what it costs to pay for a family of four to dine out.

Anyway, we wound up at IHOP, the International House of Pancakes, which somehow we had never visited before despite it being one of those chains that are kind of everywhere; and when the bill came to my and my wife's surprise, the waitress told us that we had picked an evening to eat when the kids dine free: $9 magically had been subtracted from the bill.

What a great country, I thought.