Winning Ways With Children When Eating Out
Nervous about eating in restaurants with your children? Here are a few tips to help make dining out with kids a winning experience.
- Choose a child-friendly location. Fast food places, family style restaurants, and coffee shops are more likely to make your children and you feel welcome.
- Call ahead. Ask if children are welcome; if they have high chairs or booster seats. If you can, order your meal ahead to cut down on waiting once you are there.
- Avoid the rush. Dine at off-peak times. Arrive at the restaurant before or after the busy times to avoid long lines and waits for meals to be served.
- Sit by a window. Kids enjoy watching cars and trucks pass by. A window seat may provide children with a pleasant pastime until their meals are served.
- Order small. Don't overwhelm your child with food. Order from the children's menu or share part of your meal with your child. And don't expect children to “clean their plates.” Ask your server to put leftovers in a container to take home.
- Stick to the familiar. Order food your child likes. Most times, restaurants aren't the best place to expand a child's appreciation for different foods.
- Keep them busy. Crayons, books, word games can keep kids occupied before meals are served. Take along a notepad and pencils so they can draw. Play tic-tac-toe or hangman.
- Bail out. If all your efforts fail and your child starts falling apart in the restaurant, have one parent or a mature teenager leave with the child, to avoid spoiling the meal for everyone else. You can take home food s/he has not eaten.
- Remember. Every time you eat out, it is a learning experience for your child and for you. What does not work one time may work the next. Rest assured, as you both get better at it, there will be better days ahead.
