What age do they start eating a grown up meal in a restaurant?

[chipmonkey]

Ds1 is 10 now, just wondering how long we can get away with small portions!

the restaurants quite often specify an age don't they?

I was in Wagamamas today - they say the kids menu is for children aged 10 and under wagamamas

From what I've seen most restaurants that do child menus tend to assume they are for 12 and under, but I would say it depends on the child. DS1 eats more than I do, so I wouldn't automatically get him a childrens meal. If we go to an Indian restaurant he'll have his own and DS2 and DD will share one adult portion, plus a little bit of DS1s.

good point serenity - depends on how much they eat

First time ever on mumsnet for a first-time mum of one! I really wish I had known about this website when I first gave birth, it's excellent. Will be making sure my sisters sign up too. Have some trouble getting my 16 month old to eat a wide range of food. He likes pasta, bread, (thankfully, also homemade vegetable soup), fromage frais and some fruit but does not seem to like meat. He used to like ham and sausage but has gone off it. Slightly worried about his protein intake. Any ideas on good ways to encourage the trial of new dishes? Also, he seems to eat better when the tv is on but I always feel a bit guilty about giving in with that as, more and more, you hear of the negative effects of telly-watching by young children. How do other parents manage to successfully deal with this issue? Grateful for any comments and/or advice.

I have ordered childrens portions for myself before now, in italian restaurants where they do small servings from the main menu.

Never order from kids menus in the chain restaurants. DS isn't a 'chicken nuggets or cheap pizza' type kid.
We either ask for smaller portions, or I order something we both like and share with him.

Hello Stephanie
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hello, Stephanie!
Your Qs are ones that will be familiar to many MN-ers - start a thread under 'parenting' and you wil get lots of replies!
Depends on the restaurant, depends on the child!
We stayed in a hotel where they offered restauarant meals from the menu for children at half price. DS chose steak and got an enormous T bone steak, full sized, for a tiny amount.

Have been to other places where an enquiry about child portions has been met with a very snooty refusal. Places that do easily scale-downable food, too.

My children each started to have their own adult meals around age 6-7, mainly because the children's ones are so rubbish. In fact even before that age they almost never had a child's meal, they often just shared an adult one.

To start with, they went for either small adults' meals (some restaurants have 'lite' portions) or they had a starter as a main course. My eldest has always loved sandwiches so he would often choose a sandwich or baguette, possibly with something else on the side.

They graduated to full-size adult portions around the age of 8-9, but again we would ask that the portion wasn't too huge.

dd is 10 and sometimes has an adult meal, sometimes the kids. Depends what is on the menu

DD1 is 7 and sometimes does (especially when its those places 2 meals for £7 )but someplacs she likes the kids stuff and others she likes the adult meals though its usually of the snack/lite meals.

DS2 is nearly 8, and has only just started regularly having an adult portion rather than a child's meal; though prior to that he would often have an adult's light meal, or soup, rather than the "kiddies' menu" which never really appealed.

They both eat more than me on a regular basis, so if there's a nice children's menu I often order one child's meal and I eat that

We have an "eat-all-you-like" Chinese buffet which specifies the children's rate by height, which seems quite fair to me! As most lanky lads have huge appetites!

I know that one, great food too!

We ate out today and ds was brought a child's portion

I immediately thought "oops he could have done with more than that" but didn't say anything. I should have done because he was ravenous later. He's 3, half a sandwich isn't really enough as a main meal

We tend to order an adult portion and then I "help" him. Often I don't get a chance to "help" as much as I would like

I think it is crazy for restaurants to impose a age limit on kids meals, surely if a 12 year old only wants a small off the kids menu why do they say no he can't have it, has to order an adult portion