Eating out with kids?

[Lovingeachday]

How do you find the best way to entertain your children when eating out? I’ve found that I hardly do it now it’s just me and them as they often act up when out.

@Notso well most considerate diners like myself would either turn the volume off or on a minimal scale, so no disturbance would be made to other people in the restaurant.

@5foot5 include our child whom we’ve eaten out with from birth up to his current age of almost 3 in our adult conversation as a means of keeping him happy & entertained ?? You must be kidding surely... I’m assuming you’re referring to people with older children...

Colouring always works. We have a 'backpack' in the car with pads, pens, paper and cards (with chips!). We play 21, boy girl, hangman etc.

The 'Who am I' game is good too.

I had to google exploding kittens! Going to get it for my nieces for Xmas now

Teach them how it's done at home and then they will know how they are expected to behave.

When mine were small we went to family fun pub type places with a kiddy’s play area, or buffet type places where you serve yourself rather than wait. Now they’re bigger we really enjoy food and eating out, and go a variety of places and it’s a real treat. We still sometimes all end up on our phones while waiting for food to come though (all get put away when it arrives). Or we sit and play cards or uno.
Some little ones though really struggle with sitting still, regardless of parenting ( whether through sen or personality) and I do have sympathy for parents.

I bring a colouring book, pencil case, maybe a magazine with stickers or a blank notebook. My daughter is coming up for 4. Sometimes a little sandwich bag of Lego or a toy. We love to eat our, she's eaten out with us since she was 4 days old. She's never had access to a phone, we don't own a tablet. She knows no different. Once we've ordered I love to sit and colour with her or draw pictures. And to talk, just chat about anything and everything.

we have two DSs, now nearly teenagers but they are very close in age (18 months apart) and it was not always easy to eat out with them. We didn't 'eat out regularly' with them as restaurants cost a lot of money, and we are not one of those families who can just eat out on a weekly basis. So on occasion, we did and I used to take colouring, stickers, and sometimes they would pack a little bag with a couple of toys/lego. I also used to take a little pot of carrot and cucumber sticks for them to munch on whilst waiting for the food.

include our child whom we’ve eaten out with from birth up to his current age of almost 3 in our adult conversation as a means of keeping him happy & entertained ?? You must be kidding surely... confused I’m assuming you’re referring to people with older children...

Fair does. I wasn't necessarily referring to babies. Thinking of more 3+ age for that.

Up to about 2 we tended to take DD either to very family friendly places or wait until she had dropped off to sleep then kept her in the push chair.

Between 2 and 3 we found Italian restaurants very welcoming to a small girl who would do her best to get more spaghetti bolognaise in her than on her.

From 3 onwards we found we could take her to far more places because, yes, conversation was becoming a possibility.

I mentioned the conversation thing because of the number of times I have seen families with much older children who sit them down and proceed to hold a conversation over their head and the kids either get bored and are a pain or have to be placated with a tablet.

I'm completely with you, 5foot5. Of course you can't include a baby in adult conversation (or give them an iphone, for that matter) but toddlers are another matter. You adjust your conversation to make it suitable for everyone, obviously.

This thread may not be the place for this observation, and my kids use screens just like all the rest, but I honestly think people will look back at our generation and feel horrified at how freely we allowed our children to use phones and tablets. I think it will be rather like the way we now look back at parents in the 50s and 60s who thought nothing of smoking all over their children.

I had my two quite close together so the early years were quite hard - we either went to somewhere that was child friendly eg Pizza Express etc so there would be activity sheets and a children's menu that was likely to come quickly or we only took one at a time if we were going somewhere smarter so it became a big treat (and all that undivided attention). It meant that by the time the youngest was 4.5 we could take them anywhere and they could behave.

I take my iPhone with me. We play games or discuss the menu as a family. I seize the opportunity to reinforce basic number skills too. On Sunday we had dinner at our local family pub and I specifically asked for starters to keep them busy. My step daughter has a fidget spinner and a activity book. My son doodles on paper and my daughter and I engage in a discussion with each other about the food.

Go to restaurants that have stuff on the walls. Then you too can spend hours and hours of your life playing "I can see something that is round. And Green...etc etc." But it did mean we could go out for dinner with a bunch of young kids and keep them entertained and quiet (ish).

Colouring. No iPads, hate seeing kids glued to iPads when I’m out. Sorry not sorry.

UNO. Usually the waiting staff want to join in.

Agree and have never taken an iPad out with us. And as I say, we chat, colour, possibly read a short story or something first. We’ll only give iPhone to DS if all else fails (if food is taking longer than expected etc) just to keep him quiet - more so to refrain from disturbing other diners with any whinging!!
In regards to screen time in general - everything in moderation. DS never ever watches the TV but does have access to an iPad we no longer use which he watches peppa pig on and nursery rhymes etc.

I didn’t think you were allowed to play cards in public 😳

Really Cat?! Is that a thing?

I’m fully prepared to be wrong but I was too scared to play uno with my kids in the airport pub in case I got done for gambling 🙈🙈🙈

Phone, magazines, books, colouring etc. We obviously stop during the meal itself and manage to hold conversation together!

Wow Cluelessss - sorry but your parents sound like a throwback to a different age! Only speak when spoken to and then be prepared to talks politics with the grown ups? No wonder you found dining with your parents an ordeal.

When I was a child (60s and 70s) we always sat down to eat together as a family and, although we were expected to behave and have good table manners, it was a pleasant and sociable event. It was when we all caught up on what everyone else in the family had been doing and shared our news. DH had a similar experience and this is what we tried to replicate ourselves when we became parents. It might be why DD took well to dining out from an early age because sitting at the table together to eat was a familiar thing.

We have always eaten out a lot with the kids and we chose places with good food rather that tolerated children rather than a family style restaurant, if the kids behaved badly we would leave - but they'd miss out on a pudding, so they were pretty good. We played I spy colours when they were younger, I spy alphabet when they started school, A-Z lists of fruit, animals etc 20 questions in two team of adult and child - they are teens now and they still love 20 questions. Memory games - I went to the shop and I bought....
When a bit more prepared and especially on holidays - cards - Uno, gin rummy, whist or trumps Exploding kittens, articulate, Sussed.

Ipad and I just tell her she can't have the sound on. She accepts this and I have apps on there that are OK without sound like the Cbeebies Playtime one and Reading Eggs. In Britain it's not really a problem as we only really go to child friendly places and they often have colouring or sometimes even a toy corner, but it's certainly got me through a few meals in France that would have been sticky otherwise.

The best was in Montreal this summer when we found a friendly bar where everything was $5.95 (so no worried about wasting money when she didn't like stuff) and they had the TV on a surfing channel the whole time. That was fun!

When I was a child (60s and 70s) we always sat down to eat together as a family and, although we were expected to behave and have good table manners, it was a pleasant and sociable event. It was when we all caught up on what everyone else in the family had been doing and shared our news. DH had a similar experience and this is what we tried to replicate ourselves when we became parents.

^^
Guaranteed though when you were a kid your parents didn't take you out to eat lots. Because no one did. It's a modern thing, taking kids out to eat. Home isn't a restaurant.