Somewhere in the second month of splitting the week, you notice the kids are eating at your mom's table on Tuesdays and the chair they use at home is wrong for it. It is too low, or the table is too high, or there is one chair with arms and two without. A kid perched on a stack of couch pillows is not a crisis, but it is a daily annoyance, and it is the kind you can fix once instead of every Tuesday.

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Measure the three things that decide it

Take a tape measure to your mom's kitchen before you buy anything. Measure the height of the table top from the floor, the height of the seat you have in mind from the floor, and the distance from the seat to the underside of the table. That gap underneath is the number that matters most. A cushion or seat that lifts a child too high will bang knees and make eating miserable. Write the three numbers on the back of an envelope and keep it in your car.

Then measure your child sitting down, from the seat to the top of the shoulder. Ask whether the child can rest elbows on the table without leaning, and whether feet reach the floor or a footrest. Kids who cannot get their feet down squirm, and squirming turns dinner into a negotiation.

Check what the chair has to survive

Look at the chair you are considering. Is it stable on your mom's floor, which may be tile or old wood? If it has a strap or fastener, will it stay put when a kid leans back? Will it fit between the table and the wall without dragging a cabinet? A chair that slides when pushed in will get pushed in by a seven year old the same way every time.

Pick the spot before the chair

Decide with your mom, or with whoever helps her in the afternoons, where the chair will live. If it has to come out for guests, choose one that folds or stacks. If it stays, put it where it will not block the path to the stove. Ask your mom what she is comfortable with. She may say the kitchen is hers and the answer is no, and that is worth knowing before you spend anything.

Name who moves it

Decide who carries the chair between houses, if it moves at all. If it stays at your mom's, name who checks it once a month for loose bolts or wobbles. A chair with no owner ends up in the garage, and then the kids are back to the pillows.

If the chair does not fit, the cheapest fix is often moving the kid's seat, not the table. Try a different seat at the same table before you try a new table. For how the two rows of the calendar fit together, see The Kids' Week and Mom's Week.