It can be done!

[Globules]

Just got back from breakfast with my 24 yr old friend and her 6 yr old son. I'm late 40s-my children are adults.

I got there first and chose a table with easy plug access, as I presumed he'd be with device. They arrived, and he saw my phone plugged in. He pointed it out, and I told mum my reason for the table choice.

Her reply blew me away.

"Oh no. We don't do anything like that when we're eating out."

We then spent a delightful 90mins engaging between just adult conversation, adult and child conversation, playing with about 10 character cards as well as eating.

The age of my children means devices weren't an option when they were little. They quickly learnt how to behave when we were eating out. I loved eating out with them when we were little.

Looking around when eating out these days, I mostly see children on devices (sometimes with headphones thankfully). Parents/carers not engaging with their child, or getting cross with them for being children. Very little engagement between adult and child. It's like hens teeth to see a non electronic used for the child's entertainment.

I didn't think this could, or would, still be done in this day and age. Even nicer to be part of it.

We don't do anything like that either, mine is 6 and she never has.

Mine can all last a good hour seated in a restaurant without a device. It's not an achievement. It's just how we expect them to behave (they are 12, 10 and 7). They aren't ready for 7 course / Michelin star gaffs yet though!

Caveat to add we don't eat out all that often as the cost is crippling!! Probably every other month. But they do eat at the dinner table, sans devices, everyday.

My 5 year old can - although he would prefer to have his tablet and I allow it maybe 25% of the time when we eat out. Grabbing a quick dinner at say, Harvester is something we'll do after a long day for both of us to save me cooking fairly often, and I have no problem if he wants to use his tablet for some downtime whilst we wait. Same for if I'm meeting my friends who don't have children - as long as he's respectful and can put it down easily when it's time to eat/drink/chat I don't have an issue - sometimes.

If we're eating out with children his age/family/somewhere nicer or if he's already had lots of screen time that day, it's a no.

I agree it's not an achievement @Crunchymum . It's how we all did it 20 years ago.

I eat out a lot and it is so so rare to see a child at a table without a device. Makes me sad.

My eldest is 11 and we have always had a strict no devices at the dinner table or whilst eating at all. Myself and DH follow the same rules, to the point where if one us quickly checks our phone for the time DS will remind us of the rules 🤣

As a result they are very well behaved at meal times and I can trust them when eating out in public to be polite and engage in conversation. My youngest is only 2 but I will pack him a couple of cars/some crayons and paper for him if we are going out to eat. To me, meal
times are about reconnecting, catching up on our day - you can’t do that if half the family are glued to screens.