Eating out with the kid(s)

[Faevantastic]

Anyone take their LO to restaurants fairly regularly and successfully?  Tell me your secret.

[charlielove]

She does okay if it's a short meal. I bring snacks and crayons/paper to entertain her until the food gets to us. It's almost too much work to bother going out sometimes, unless we have to.

[Deleted]

We do maybe once a week (the ILs usually take us out on the weekends or after church). I usually bring snacks, like cheerios, for before the meal. He knows food is there but has no patience so I need the little snack to tide him over. Also, now we are able to really utilize the crayons and paper they give. Otherwise I keep some little books in my diaper bag. Cam goes through stages where he'll be great and other times where he wants nothing to do with the restaurant. IF thats the case, either DH or I will take him outside and let him walk around a bit, and come back when the food is there. Then he's usually fine.

ETA: We have the same snack cup as @tambcat. Love it! 

[EmmieB1025]

We don't even try anymore! The last few times we've tried have been disastrous.

[Deleted]

We go early for dinner, like 4pm and I feed her a small lunch so she is pretty hungry. I come armed with a book, cell phone apps, snacks incase the food takes too long, anything else she is loves at the time. When we go when she is hungry, and not tired which is why we go at 4, she is awesome once the food arrives and just chows down.

If we go too late, or she's not hungry, its a disaster.

[jfh]

We take him out a lot, but our strategy is basically that we let him run around and do his thing while one of us follows behind him. We usually get a little time with everyone sitting at the table, but we spend a lot of time switching off. I don't mind though, he's really social and it's fun to have him out with us.

[carawestt]

We don't do it often but he does well when it happens, as long as it's a short meal. I always get a kids menu and he colors on it with the crayons.

[mrsjaymay]

We do about once a week or so. I take a variety of snacks and things that she really loves, like pouches. If we are ordering her something off the menu, I ask the waiter to please bring hers out immediately, and that really helps.

I usually end up cleaning up a ton of her food off the floor and apologizing profusely to the waiter, also...

[laurack]

Not really. We take her for breakfast/brunch after swimming on saturdays often. It goes reasonably well because breakfast is short, cheap and casual. The last time we took her to dinner at a restaurant was not good. I just can't enjoy myself with the stress.

Once she's finished eating (this can be three seconds or up to 15 minutes) she doesn't want to be in her chair any more and just wants to run wild.

to me it just seems like paying a lot of money to be stressed out.

[TrudyCampbell]

We go out a lot and V does great. No real secrets, she loves to people watch and she likes the attention she gets.

[katie]

We go to Panera every weekend to eat breakfast and Then regular restaurants a few times a month too. I make sure it's not at a time where she should be napping and usually as close to her normal eating time. We don't usually do dinner out unless it's an early dinner like 4pm otherwise I risk a lot of crankiness.

I usually have her drink, a little snack, a toy to keep her occupied before her food comes. She's also pretty nosey so she spends most of her time people watching haha. She does tend to talk and yell at times which is loud but it's not usually in anger. We don't go to real fancy places, usually family friendly.

[katie]

And crayons are still a no go for us. As of this past Saturday she still wants to eat them. I mentioned going to Panera because you don't wait long and I feel like if I need to leave for any melt down reason it's a lot easier. Maybe try those type of places so he gets a little more used to it? Like a trial period

[rubber pants]

We dont really go out at all. The only time she's been out with us to eat is when we are away on vacation somewhere. She does really well though. Eats everything that is given to her. We bring snack cups and books for her to read to help with the sitting and waiting.

[mala]

Partially, we just lucked out with B being good in restaurants. We go out fairly regularly, and we have not (yet) had any incidents or meltdowns. We treat mealtimes the same at home as we would in a restaurant. Mostly this means that we don't let her out of her high chair until everyone is done eating. So if she says she's finished first, we tell her "Daddy/Mommy's still eating, you have to wait until he's/she's/I'm done." The upside is that she doesn't fuss to get down in the restaurant. But, she's a big eater and is usually the last one eating when we're out. I also never have her food brought out first. I bring cheerios and that holds her over until the food comes out. I also bring yogurt melts and if she starts getting fussy, I give her those, they're really high-value for her.

I do think it really depends on their personality, though. B is usually easygoing, in public in particular, she loves being out and about.

ETA: Usual dinner time is 6:30. I will always be at the restaurant by 6 so we have food before 6:30. If we are not going to get to the restaurant in time for a 6:30 meal (or earlier) we won't go.

[Faevantastic]

Thanks for the tips!

The last time I took him out was at an Indian buffet. I could not leave to dish my food. My friend had to do it for me. He sat in the highchair for like 5 mins and wanted OUT OUT OUT. He wanted to sit on my lap and play with my fork and plate of food and screamed when I didn't let him. OMG, it was horrible. It was after work so I think he was tired and also teething.

I'm going to have to plan this strategically when we go on vacation in Oct. We're visiting my family this weekend so I plan to do a few test runs. I'm gonna get that snack cup!

[mumegs]

It's been harder since she started walking, she wants to run around all the time. What works for us is for her to sit in the booth with me or on my lap, she hates sitting in restaurant high chairs. I will let her play with the sugar packets or something that involves taking things out and putting them back, her favorite activity. If all else fails I have yo gabba on you tube on my phone. She likes to color too but will take bites out of the crayons so that's not always the best idea. She is fine once the food comes.

[bigapple]

Aug 28, 2013 12:58:22 GMT -5 TrudyCampbell said:

We go out a lot and V does great. No real secrets, she loves to people watch and she likes the attention she gets.

Same here.

We do tend to pick loud, dark places (so the opposite of family friendly) because no one notices or hears him then. We also hold him on our laps until the meal arrives and then put him in his seat because that prolongs the time he'll be happy there.

We also NEVER order his food first because then he'd be done and antsy just as we get our food.

[mala]

Also, a lot of the time I will let her sit on my lap until the food comes, then she goes in her highchair.

[TrudyCampbell]

Aug 28, 2013 13:08:50 GMT -5 bigapple said:

Aug 28, 2013 12:58:22 GMT -5 TrudyCampbell said:

We go out a lot and V does great. No real secrets, she loves to people watch and she likes the attention she gets.

Same here.

We do tend to pick loud, dark places (so the opposite of family friendly) because no one notices or hears him then. We also hold him on our laps until the meal arrives and then put him in his seat because that prolongs the time he'll be happy there.

We also NEVER order his food first because then he'd be done and antsy just as we get our food.

Yes, good point! We ordered her food first the other day and it came so fast and then it took forever to get ours. It worked out okay but we had to do a lot of entertaining. 

[muppetinma]

We do all the time. I order his food as soon as we sit down. That way, he's not waiting on our food. We rarely have an issue with behavior.

[Dolci]

We do sometimes but I do not enjoy it. It is stressful.

[sunshineluv]

Aug 28, 2013 12:58:22 GMT -5 TrudyCampbell said:

We go out a lot and V does great. No real secrets, she loves to people watch and she likes the attention she gets.

This is us too.

As long as he has food in front of him, he is generally okay. (So we bring cheerios as his appatizer).

He does have a thing for waitress's butts, so we have to watch out or he gets handsy!!

[claralou]

Aug 28, 2013 12:58:22 GMT -5 TrudyCampbell said:

We go out a lot and V does great. No real secrets, she loves to people watch and she likes the attention she gets.

Ditto this. As long as we time it right (ie she's not starving upon arrival), she does really well. 

[creamsiclechica]

Aug 28, 2013 13:25:47 GMT -5 claralou said:

Aug 28, 2013 12:58:22 GMT -5 TrudyCampbell said:

We go out a lot and V does great. No real secrets, she loves to people watch and she likes the attention she gets.

Ditto this. As long as we time it right (ie she's not starving upon arrival), she does really well. 

This too.  As long as she's not super tired or starving, she does a really great job, so we go out fairly often and so far, she's amazing.  I also wonder if part of it is because we have taken her out constantly since I could wear her and eat?  I don't know, but I feel pretty blessed she does well, because I freaking love brunch.

[TrudyCampbell]

I always bring my iPad for emergency purposes but we haven't had to use it so far.

[Regina Philange]

Sometimes hes is an angel, and other times i am scarfing down my food and running out of there. It's a gamble.

[carawestt]

Aug 28, 2013 13:24:28 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

J is just so active and doesn't like sitting still for long. Why didn't she get any of my lazy genes?

Haha Lincoln too. At what age do they realize that just sitting down and relaxing is nice?

[Deleted]

Yes but I found out recently it takes two of us, so we need a man-to-man technique. I tried a sit-down lunch out myself w them and it was *horrendous*. The wait for the food is just too much for them.

We bring toys and water and let them play w the silverware. They are better when there are a lot of people to entertain them or if it is early for them to eat. If they are hungry/tired it is a lot harder.

[Deleted]

I tell the waiter to put W's food in by itself and bring it out as soon as it is ready. I also feed him snacks as we wait.

[fryjack2]

Define successful

-early dinner

-sit outside

-order easy food for them to eat almost right away

-ask for the check at the same time the order is placed

- bring toys that will keep them somewhat entertained. This is annoying though because I just end up picking them off the floor after they get chucked a million times.

The other day we sat outside at a pizza place for almost an hour!! It was amazing! Then there are times when we bag it before it even starts.. We can;t even take turns eating. We are each responsible for one kid. ha!