Toddler Trouble

[LiamsMum]

Hi everyone
I have a problem with my 18 month old son and wonder if anyone else has been in the same boat??!!! He is quite an active little boy but most of the time is very sweet, he smiles a lot and gives us lots of hugs & kisses. On the other hand..... whenever we take him out to a restaurant (usually a family-style place), the first thing he wants to do is reach out for anything he can get his hands on, eg. knives, forks, spoons, cups, straws, etc etc. He insists on playing with things while I feed him and he gets grisly if we don't let him have certain items. Then after a short while he will protest about being in the high chair, which means lots of squirming and whining. Because of this my husband and I sometimes end up frazzled and unable to enjoy dinner. We go out alone when we can, but I also want to be able to take my son out with us occasionally. To top it off, whenever I see other babies out, they seem to be sitting there quietly... this really gets me down. I heard somewhere that you should take the child outside and warn them about their behaviour, but he's not quite up to this level of understanding yet. Does this sound familiar to anyone...? Thanks.

Toddlers and restaurants - aaargh!!! For a long time I used to have to keep my son in his buggy to eat with us to prevent total meltdown. Then at about two years old he began to ask for a high chair and now, at a walloping great nearly 3 and over 1 metre tall he still wants one!

But what I found really really helps is to take some toys/books to have on the high chair tray while waiting for the food to arrive. Yes, I go emerald with envy when I see other, much younger, children sitting nicely. It's a vicious circle I suppose, you don't go out cos child can't behave and then when you do go out he's forgotten how to behave!

A shift system usually works - 1 parent to eat the nice hot dinner while the other entertains/feeds the child then swap and eat your by now cold dinner while other parent tries to keep control! Things can only get better I keep telling myself, through clenched teeth! Good luck!!

I agree with Mandyd's comments. Also look for child friendly restaurants like TGI Fridays, Est Est Est, Harvesters, Brewsters or Little Chef as they will provide crayons etc for little ones to play with (some provide free babyfood too, I know Little Chef definitely does) and are usually full of kiddies doing exactly the same as yours, so you don't feel like the main attraction if yours is playing up. I know exactly how you feel, mine are the same!

I've got one of those too! As has been said, take loads of little cars, books (those ones with flaps to lift up are good), paper and crayons (unless he eats the crayons instead of the food!)
I also let him have a couple of straws and an empty plastic bottle so he can pretend he is drinking like Mummy and Daddy.
When we go to Mums and Todders or Tumbletots he is always the one dancing in the middle of the circle at singing times and going from child to child peering at them, while they are all sitting nicely on Mummy's lap!

Oh I can so relate here! We try and go for one drink in our local, baby-friendly pub, and we have a hard time managing that amount of time as she is throwing any food we give her, squirming and whining and generally VERY unhappy. I would say books definitely help and also say the ones with flaps in particular. I also have a book with lots of animals so she happily makes the noises of the cow etc. Maybe something like the packets of raisins that Organix do and just give them the box as it takes 10 minutes of concentration to get into the thing, does this sound cruel??!! We haven't managed a meal out in months and I agree it would be so nice to go out as a family so I'll be watching this posting incase anything else comes up!
Good luck to us all!