GIVEAWAY: $1000 Target Gift Card + Go & Gro Mix-ins
Yesterday, I posted “12 Problems Dining Out with Kids” on the Mommy Shorts Facebook page and asked parents who felt like they had mastered the art of family dining (no, not the kind where they put a large plate of pasta on your table for everyone to share) to comment with their best tips and tricks.
I culled through all the responses and put together a master list, which includes some tips of my own. Some are obvious, some are more inspired. Some I practice regularly and some I clearly need to try.
28 tips & tricks for dining out with kids
1) Practice playing restaurant at home. Tell your kids what kind of behavior is expected when you eat out, like proper table manners and staying seated.
2) Always check menus online first to make sure they serve food your kids will want to eat. There is nothing worse than sitting down at a table and discovering there is no chicken fingers available.
3) Keep a mini tackle box
4) Eat out early in the evening when there are less people and more families who are sympathetic to your strife. Or, they’ve got their own kids to deal with and couldn’t be bothered paying attention to yours.
5) Opt for large busy restaurants where the noise decibel level is higher and more likely to drown out your rowdy kids.
6) Go to a buffet if possible. Kids think it’s exciting to pick their own food. You can even sneak some new foods for them to try without wasting your money on an entire entree they probably won’t eat.
7) Get a booth if it’s an available. This way your kid can move around more without disturbing other people. You can also put them on the inside and trap them in their seat.
8) Buy triangle crayons
9) Make sure each child has the EXACT SAME SET of crayons; you don’t want one kid sobbing because his brother is the sole owner of the only purple crayon.
10) Use the stuff on the table to create games, like sorting sugar packets by color or jelly packets by size. We also play a game where everybody closes their eyes except one person who takes an item off the table and hides it in their lap. First person to guess the missing item wins.
11) When kids get older, games like tic tac toe, hangman and dots can be wonderfully distracting while waiting for a meal to be served.
12) I always carry a pair of dice for impromptu restaurant games. You can make up a game while you are waiting for you food and they can be used as an eating game to get your kid to take more bites.
13) Bring your own cups until your kids are responsible with the covered cups at the restaurant. Or they make universal sippy cup lids
14) Bring your own portable placemat. For babies and toddlers, they make silicone mats
15) Often bad behavior in a restaurant is a result of the very challenging hunger/impatience combination. Pack a few healthy snacks so your kid has something to munch on before the food arrives.
16) Treat dinner out like a ticking time bomb. Ask for the bread and water as soon as you are seated and ask for the check as soon as the food comes. Then eat fast and get out!
17) Always ask servers if there are any ingredients in the dishes that aren’t listed on the menu. I can’t tell you how many times I have been burned by parmesan cheese.
18) Ask for your kids’ meals to be served as soon as they are ready. In addition to staving off a hunger tantrum, you can cut their food before yours has even arrived and then eat your meal hot.
19) If their food arrives early enough and they finish before you start, that’s a perfect time to buy them dessert. Nothing is better than eating your entree in peace while your kid is consumed with his ice cream.
20) I’ve also been known on occasion to feed my kids at home and then take them out to a restaurant afterwards. Mike and I order entrees and order desserts for the kids to eat at the same time.
21) Ask for an extra plate to cool hot food on— a few strands of spaghetti will always cool faster than a whole plate!
22) If your kid is refusing to eat the protein and the vegetables and sticking purely to bread and rice, use Go & Grow Mix-ins to supplement the nutrients missing from their meal.
23) Never force vegetables at a restaurant. That’s a battle you should save for home when nobody can hear the screaming.
24) For the love of god, if your child acts up, take them outside! Better yet, be willing to pay and walk out even if it means taking the entire meal to go. Making your kids get up and leave in the middle of the meal for bad behavior is a great lesson that will likely be remembered.
25) Arrange with your spouse ahead of time to split responsibilities. If your spouse eats leisurely while you tend to the kids during the meal, then it is his/her job to take the kids outside or for a walk so you can eat in peace after they are done.
26) Don’t worry about what strangers think. Unless they are being actively attacked by your kid with a fork.
27) Always leave a healthy tip for the server. The bigger the mess on the floor, the bigger the tip. It’s the right thing to do plus, they won’t be so annoyed the next time a family walks in the door.
28) The biggest family dining trick of all? Don’t bring the kids!
Hope this helps everyone including me!
GIVEAWAY: $1000 Target Gift Card Plus Go & Grow Mix-ins
Today, I am giving away one $1000 Target gift card plus a supply of Go & Grow Mix-ins from Similac!
Go & Grow is a powder that comes in small to-go packets that are perfect for dining out with kids. They can be stirred into foods like rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, applesauce and pancake batter to give an extra boost of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and DHA without your kids noticing a difference. They are GMO and gluten-free.
Check out Similac.com/toddlermoms for free samples (while supplies last), store locators and more information about how Mix-Ins help your child maintain balanced nutrition.
To enter:
1) You must be a Mommy Shorts subscriber. If you are not one already, you can become one by clicking here.
2) Leave a comment below telling me a tip, trick or funny story about dining out with your kids. It could be a success or a failure. For instance, here’s an awesome story posted by a mom named Jen on Facebook:
We were running late from an outing and needed to stop to eat. My kids begged to go to Olive Garden but I was reluctant because they hadn’t been so well-behaved the last time we were there. We had a conversation about what constitutes good behavior; sitting still, being quiet, etc. and I told them we could only go in if they promised to behave. They promised. The hostess saw us (one mommy and three little kids) and tucked us into a corner table. The table across from us had 6-8 thirty-somethings who were drinking and kind of loud. We were there less than 10 minutes when my 5 year-old looked over and shouted, “EXCUSE ME? COULD YOU BE QUIET PLEASE? WE’RE IN A REST-AU-RANT.”
Winner will be selected at random and announced on June 22nd.
Good luck!
winner update:
Congrats to Arielle, who’s daughter is still holding a grudge about the time she cut her bagel in half. Please contact annie@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize!
—————————
This post was sponsored by Go & Grow Mix-ins from Similac, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
The worst was when my baby screamed so loud that people were staring and whispering. My husband was done eating so he took baby to the car and I dined alone. Wait, that wasn’t THAT bad but it sure was embarrassing.
Today I took my toddler and newborn to chipotle to meet a friend for work. After juggling both kids into the restaurant and sitting down to eat my toddler puked. At least she didn’t scream.
Last week, my brother and I took my kids (5 months and 2 years) to lunch at Steak and Shake. My 2 year old suddenly decided he wanted a drink of his uncle’s tea and before we knew what was happening, he’d pulled it off the table and dumped it on the booth.
My daughter is extremely picky, but loves macaroni and cheese. I know she only likes noodles shapes two ways. Shells, al a panera bread’s Mac and cheese or regular elbows. So now anytime we go to a restaurant and order macaroni and cheese I have to ask which snaped noodles they use. We have had more than one meltdown over macaroni made out of some ungodly noodle form such as rotini! How could they??
I am so happy to hear there is another person who does this!! My daughter not only has to have her specific noodle but if there is visible shredded cheese on top of it. I’ve told her a thousand times but she can’t grasp the fact that the cheese in Mac and cheese is actual melted cheese ? Lol
Haha! My fave is the one about not bringing the kids 😉
I haven’t had any funny moments in restaurants with my own kids but when I was a teenager a friend and I went to dinner with my parents and brother and nephew; who was about three at the time. My friend and I were going out to the club after so I didn’t have on my normal get up of jeans and a tshirt. When I got to the table my nephew looked me up and down and loudly announced “Aunt Shewwy,, yous wook wike a hoochie!” for all the restaurant to hear.
My wife is pregnant with our first child, but we were recently out to eat with her sister, who has a seven-month-old son. The little guy is normally an angel in public and we all take turns passing him around so we can each eat our food before it gets too cold.
Well on this day, for whatever reason, he was fussy. He didn’t want to eat. He didn’t want to be put in his car seat to sleep. He just wanted to be held…by everyone except his grandmother. I think her heart broke a little that day. She was the only one to eat hot food that day, but she left the restaurant the saddest person of all. Eventually it was my turn to hold him.
By this point, he is done with sitting. The little guy was forcing me to hold him upright so that he could “stand” and bounce in my lap. This was unfortunate because it allowed him to flail his arms about with total abandon. He ended up totally slapping the waitress in the boob as she brought me a refill.
We left her a larger tip than usual after that.
My husband and I go out to dinner frequently with his brother and two babies. Well, one is a toddler and the other is an infant. It goes pretty well if we go for the early bird
Special dinner time. We also ask for a bread basket so that the toddler can entertain himself with the rolls. When he gets antsy one of us will walk around with him until the dinner is served.
We don’t eat out often, but when we do, we almost always come close to leaving someones shoe(s) behind at the restaurant. It’s always a different kid and we generally don’t notice till we’re in the car because we are almost always in such a hurry to just GET OUT. I always say never again, not till they’re older but then we’ll find ourselves asked to dinner with family or friends and we end up deciding it can’t possibly be as bad as the last time….
We took our then 18 month old to Olive Garden and ordered grapes on the side. Turn our heads for one minute and look back at her and see that she shoveled all of the grapes (Yes, we already cut them up) in her mouth and it didn’t sit well. So I carried her it the bathroom knowing she was going to start throwing up any minute. She ended up vomiting all the way to the bathrooms in the front, with me trying to contain most of it on myself and my shirt(Didn’t happen…we left a trail). We also just so happened to have been seated as far back as possible too.
We’ve never gone back since…she’s 4 now and no plans to ever go in there again.
I cant think of any time that was particularly good or bad. We really only go out for brunch after church at a greasy spoon so besides for the wiggles its not a big deal.
Went out to UNOs, as I got up to clean the mess under the table my daughter left and my husband was under the table fathering the mess. My daughter climed from our booth, to the booth behind us. Joining the family that was having a pleasant time before my daughter was placed on their lap, followed by her freaking out crying and flailing. We got her went to the hostess desk, paid the check and left. We laughed in the car after the whole thing.
This is longer than it needs to be, but needless to say, it left an impression.
My twin boys were 2 when my husband had to travel for a funeral. The kids and I all NEEDED to get out of the house, so 7:30am Saturday morning we are driving around, when I see an IHOP. Bottomless coffee. Yes. The place is nearly empty. YES! We sit down and I ask for coffee, to-go cups of ice water, and a waffle with two small plates. The waiter comes back probably five minutes later with two glasses (read: in glass) of ice water and asks if I need more time.
Uh, what.
I move the glasses out of reach of kids and order the simplest thing that I can think of (two eggs with wheat toast) and remind her again about the coffee, the waffle, and the to-go cups. I add on a side of fresh fruit and a to-go box for good measure and ask her to please just bring out whatever is ready first as soon as she can. She smiled and insisted that she would be “right back”. I smiled and thanked her repeatedly. I had the kids thank her too. They are pretty cute.
The whole world slowed down as I saw her walk to the host stand, chat for a bit, and then go take the order of a 6-top that showed up.
NO.
I’m sweating now. I pull the emergency goldfish out of my purse and start counting out rations. My kids smile and color. They are awesome.
142 hours later she comes back with all of the food, including the waffle on a plate that is so hot she is using a towel to move it from the tray to the table. She puts it directly in front of my kids who reach for it immediately. I grab it with my bare hands and put it on the booth seat next to me and through watery eyes I ask for the check. Please.
I tear the waffle apart and give the boys each a piece to eat while I pay. I shotgun three cups of coffee until my inside burn, pack up the fruit and toast, inhale one of two eggs. This is how moms eat at home – not in public, so I can feel people watching me now. The kids are DONE. Crayons are on the floor now. Feet are kicking. I know what is coming and it is going to be bad. I wrangle my annoyed kiddos out the door, and make it to the car just in time for one of my kids to cry-puke all over the parking lot. So yeah. Not a *ton of fun. They still insist that they love waffles, haha.
My best friend and I were at Olive Garden with our kids and enjoying a surprisingly uninterrupted bout of adult conversation. Just glad that no one was screaming, we only occasionally flicked a glance at the kids’ side of the table. Then in stereo surround sound we hear the ominous “Moooooommy”. You know the one. That pathetic, kind of wobbly tone that almost always precedes a jet of stomach contents shooting three feet across the room. The boys had dared each other to drink the entire contents of all the sauce boats. Marinara and alfredo sauce splattered across the table like an Italian Jackson Pollock on a rampage. Mortified that not one, but two of our children had vomited all over the restaurant, we tried desperately to keep the mess contained to the table cloth at least, called over for the check and planned to never EVER come back. Then the lovely, wonderful, couldn’t-leave-her-a-big-enough-tip waitress came over, saw the mess and said “That’s nothing, the college guys that did this last week left a much bigger mess.”
We still haven’t gone back, but it was comforting to know we weren’t the first. At least our kids were only 9, not 19? Does that make it more or less excusable? I really don’t know.
Last week we scoped out one of the Steakhouses near us which had indoor play equipment. Love these restaurants, they are basically the only ones we can go to with our 2.5 year old. We were with friends who’s daughter was 7 and just asked the friends daughter to keep an eye on our little girl. We had seats right next to the play area exit so I would be able to see if she came out. The 7 year old came to us in distress saying I can’t find Morgan! I went to look for her only to find here there in the play equipment with no clothes on. ‘Where’s your clothes Morgan!?!’, Mummy I do wee wee, so I went to the toilet and under the one cubical was her clothes. Lesson, don’t take your eye off your 2.5 year old anywhere.
I took my son,who was probably about 22 months at the time,to an Italian restaurant.My son was playing with a breadstick like a sword,and while I was preoccupied ordering our food the “sword” flew out of his hand and landed on another diners plate!He thought it was hilarious,and I probably turned 50 shades of red from embarrassment!
I took my 16 month daughter to a small cafe by the beach in California with her grandparents. She was chattering away and started to notice people looking at her and smiling. So if course she continued and got louder. Finally I asked her if she could use her inside voice because I was sitting next to the note screaming toddler. She looked at me and then after a silent stare for about half a second she blew raspberries at me. So I guess that was a no on the indoor voice!
Had the girls at Applebee’s one afternoon for an early dinner. They were lightly staffed because it was only 4pm so our server had quite a few tables. The table next to us had empty drink glasses and one of my 5 year olds just couldn’t stand it. When our server came by she said, very politely, “Can they (pointing at the neighbors) please have a refill? They’re thirsty.” Then she leans out of the booth and calls out, “Anybody else need a refill?” The server brought her manager back with her and very seriously offered her a job at the restaurant. She declined because she was “not even in kindergarten yet!”.
Took our 2 and 4 yo to an early dinner at a Mediterranean place (it has pizza). With our luck they put our long table with 6 kids and 6 adults in the middle of the restaurant where people are waiting in a long line to order. Towards the end of our meal I sensed our time is running out as my 2 yo started darting back and forth around the people and chairs. 2 minutes later I was THAT mom that carried a kicking/screaming 2yo on her shoulder through the middle of the restaurant. Well, I sort of ran out as fast as possible while everyone politely stared…
We were at our usual spit with our then 2 year old. It’s a bar/restaurant with a big room for families to sit away from the bar. One evening our daughter starting making half screening noises. Before I could even react, the other diners were making noises back at her. Funny? Yes. Helpful to teaching good restaurant manners? Not so much.
When my son was 6 months old we went out to brunch with a married couple who had recently decided they were not going to have kids. My husband and I were telling them how wonderful parenthood had been. I reached over and fed my son a small piece of strawberry and he instantly projectile vomited onto his carseat. My husband and I went on autopilot to clean it up, and then proudly noted to each other how it could have been much worse. When all was settled, I looked up and my friends’ faces revealed the horror they had just endured. We finished our meal quickly to let them out of their misery.
Christmas eve dinner with family at a private club; my newly potty training 3 year old refused to use the bathroom and instead pee-peed on the carpet under the table. Needless to say, we took our food to go. After we left, the restaurant served our 17 and 18 year olds wine with each course of dinner.
We were eating at baja fresh with my parents and my three year old. Threenager was looking at a poster of steak and my mom said, “are you looking at the picture of steak?” Threenager replied loudly, “that’s not steak, that’s poop!”
The first time we took our son (who was 12 months at the time) out to a restaurant, he was still going through severe stranger anxiety. The waitress didn’t take the hint that he didn’t want to interact with her, and instead, she kept badgering him trying to get him to smile. I was getting annoyed, and I figured that meant a major meltdown was imminent on my son’s part. Instead, he picked up one end of the table cloth and put his head underneath. He stayed there until the waitress walked away.
I was at Friendly’s with my mom and my two daughters. Itwas one of the first times we went out to eat after our younger daughter started eating real food (beyond purees). I think she was around 9 months old. We ordered Mac & cheese for the baby. She was doing really well, raking in the macaroni, when suddenly, she ninja’ed the entire plate off the table and dumped it all over the floor. Our poor teenaged server came and tried to clean up, but the macaroni stuck to the floor, the broom, everything. Luckily it was Friendly’s, so obviously they were understanding. We left a nice tip.
Our favorite local family restaurant has the prefect trifecta – the owner has kids and tolerates typical kid behavior, Nick Jr is always playing on one TV, and there is a self serve fro-yo bar that can be visited while waiting for actual food to arrive (dessert first = entertained preschooler who miraculously also eats healthy dinner after candy covered fro-yo + parents usually get to eat hot food at the table).
When my daughter was about 18 months old my husband and I went out for sushi. We brought along all of her finger foods but she wouldn’t have any of it. Instead she insisted on eating our nigiri (raw fish on rice)! To this day, she’s 7 now, she will eat more pieces of tuna than her dad and I together.
While I was busy cutting his food, my toddler reaches over the back of our booth and began striking the long, lovely hair of the woman dining behind us! At least his hands were clean!
We decided early on that if we were going to take our daughter with us out to eat, she gets to play on the ipad. We never use it except on long car rides, so this seemed like a special treat. It’s always worked SO WELL and she will happily sit there for over an hour. At the age of 2 and a half we adopted a brother for her who was 8 months younger. I’ll never forget the first time we took both of them out to eat (the morning after we picked him up, at our stupid fancy hotel in Taiwan) and Zoe demanded to watch the ipad while Dax shrieked hysterically and smacked her to try to get a turn. Food was spilled, Taiwanese servers were hysterical and everyone else thought our little darlings were SO CHARMING and all basically applauded as we left. Needless to say, we don’t eat out with two 2 year olds anymore and also would anyone like to buy us a second ipad? They don’t share and I am cheap.
We took my two year old to a breakfast house for the first time. He does well in restaurants so I didn’t even see it coming. We got him the funny face pancakes and he ate the whipped cream all up, then started throwing a full blown tantrum, people were staring like maybe he was hurt. He was SCREAMING “mooore paaaancaaaakes!!!” Then I realized that he thought whipped cream was called pancakes and no amount of explaining that YOU HAVE PANCAKES could convince him otherwise.
When I was 6 and my sister Maura was 4 my mom and dad took us and our older siblings to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Upon going to the bathroom and discovering that the toilet wouldn’t flush, Maura casually strolls out of the restroom and yells “God dammit the toilets not working!!” My mom and dad were absolutely MORTIFIED. Needless to say, they never used another swear word in front of us again! #lessonlearned #outofthemouthofbabes
She took the phrase “potty mouth” to a different level
My Mom was visiting from out of state when my daughter was just over 1. It had been a looonnnggg morning of sight seeing and the little one was getting hangry quickly. We popped into a fish and chips type place and I was hoping to sooth my daughter with green beans and French fries, but we were past the point of no return. My mom, bless her heart, thought that it was the right time to give my daughter the ol’ “let’s give the baby a lemon and see a funny face!” Lucky for us, turns out my daughter LOVES lemon, peel and all. She ate about four wedges of lemon while we ate our fish in chips. Those diapers were loads of fun later! But we survived a meal out with a hangry toddler!
While eating out with my toddler, she usually likes to roam the restaurant and could care less to sit at the table. For almost a year we avoided going out. We have recently decided to try it again and thankfully have been successful (knock on wood). We bring a back pack full of things to keep her busy at the table- crayons, books, little character figures, etc. Plus, we pick places that are family friendly. The louder the better. Or we go to Bob Evans because the older crowd there usually just “awes” and finds her adorable.
When we go out we ask for the check and boxes when they bring out our food so we can make a mad dash out of there if we need to!!
We have been blessed with a ridiculously well-behaved resaurant customer. Which is good because we probably eat out more than we eat at home. It also means I don’t have a whole lot of funny restaurant stories to share.
A couple of years ago, my husband and I went to Disney World without our then two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. (Don’t judge. I was running a half marathon.) We had an incredible Cajun/Creole meal while we were there. When we got back, we did feel a bit guilty about leaving the kid behind, so my husband recreated the crawfish etouffee to share with her at home. Kid LOVED it! So we found a local Cajun place and took her out to eat. We ordered the crawfish mac and cheese off the adult menu for her. The server looked at us like we were nuts and said they’d put the crawfish on the side. Well, the joke was on them because my daughter ate every. last. bite of crawfish–and refused the mac and cheese. #NoKidsMenuPlease
While dining in a pretty fancy restaurant, my one year old daughter, who was dressed in a beautiful dress and tights, leaned over to one side in her high chair. During a moment of complete silence, she lifted her foot that a black patent leather Mary Jane on and proceeded to let out a fart that a teenage boy would be proud of. Everyone within earshot erupted in laughter…including my daughter, who was very proud of herself.
It wasn’t funny but my son decided he wanted to sit in another booth apart from us one night… we told him no, explained why ans never actually got to eat dinner because we were hauling a screaming toddler from the restaurant… worst experience… needless to say we don’t get out often! Lol
Our best dining out experiences happen at breakfast. The food comes out faster, and our children truly enjoy pancakes and bacon (who doesnt’t?)
My husband and I take turns walking with our toddler around while the other eats. She always gets lots of smiles and make friends… I only wish we could eat together so usually we just get take out these days!
We have five little ones so going out to eat is sometimes more work then just making dinner at home. Well we have ventured out to eat a few times and we as parents stress the whole time, we fell that the kids are to rambunctious and not sitting still. But it seems every time we have people tell us how well behaved they are, we look at each other and phew! Thank goodness they didn’t view the kids as we did!
We took a weekend trip to St. Louis when my son was about a year old. Our family decided to go eat Taco Bell for lunch one afternoon, and about half way through our meal I realized he had pooped. So I went to the bathroom to find a changing table. Of course there wasn’t one, SERIOUSLY?! So I decide to just go out to the car and change him on the seat. When I took his pants off, I noticed it had gone up his back. It looked like a Taco Bell meme. I ended up having to stand him up outside our vehicle, stripping him completely naked. He had poop everywhere at this point, even in his hair! A cop drove by slowly, i’m sure he was wondering what on earth had happened. I cleaned him up as good as I could with about 1,000 baby wipes, put a diaper on him, and headed straight back to the hotel to give him a bath.
I don’t think there’s ever been a successful dining out with my two. Its seriously the worst even leaving the house. Every time we’ve tried dinner out someone ends up crying (usually me) and more food ends up on the floor than anyone’s mouths.
My 2yo has decided that her favorite place to eat is under the table. No matter where we go out to eat. It started at mellow mushroom with her taking her cup and sitting down there. Then when the food got to the table she came up got her fork and went back down. A few minutes later she got her plate and went back down. She eats great but the moment I try and make her come up she has a melt down! I think she doesn’t like to be seen with us. 😀
My 2 year old has recently discovered bacon. She asks for a side order of “yummy Macon” no matter where we go out to eat now. That didn’t go over well at the vegetarian restaurant…
I have so many stories because we take our 3 kids under 5 out all the time! Once, our 2-year-old didn’t want to eat his meal. It wasn’t too out of the ordinary because he is 2! But then, all of a sudden he vomited all over his meal…and everybody else’s. That was the start of a week of the stomach bug ravaging our entire family.
Our daughter refused to come out from under the table at a restaurant one time. We had to move the table away from the booth seats and PRY her off of the table leg… So. Embarrassing.
My most embarassing dining out experience happened with my 2.5 year old at the diner my father in law owns. It was right in the middle of the lunch rush and my sweet daughter pulled up her shirt all the way, showing her whole belly. She’s just recently been fascintated with being naked. So she said rather loudly “Naked!” I pulled her shirt down with a chuckle but before I could stop her, she grabbed the top of my shirt and pulled it down completely exposing one bra covered boob. If that wasn’t bad enough, she then started screaming at the top of her lungs, “I’M NAKED LIKE MOM. NAKED LIKE MOM.” I left quickly as I turned a hundred shades of red and wanted to cry.
We took our three-month-old to a fine dining restaurant for my birthday. She was great and as I was holding her, I heard her toots and realized she had to poo right as we were getting our entrees! No one else at the table heard, or cared when we told them, and we all had a good laugh!
On vacation with our 3 year old and 6 month old last summer. We were on week 2 of potty training boot camp and had gone 3 full days with out any accidents. We decided to go out for pizza and needed to wait awhile for our table. It was about time for the 3 yo to try to use the potty again when our table was ready so we decided to wait until after we were seated. Just when the waiter was heading us our menus my husband got a strange look on his face and jumped up. Our toddler has an accident all over the vinyl bench booth seat and it had soaked into my husband’s shorts making it look like he wet his pants too…
We have 2 under 2 who have ridiculously fast hands and pull everything off the table the instant you sit down. So we have now started sending in one parent to essentially clear our table, remove sugar packets and slide all drinks to one corner. We have even gone as far as removing the table cloth hahaha. It’s quite a sight to see our family struggle through a meal but all we can do is laugh at whoever gets to clear the table before we sit down!
Though I try not to go out to dinner with my girls often we do go from time to time, but more so on special occasions. Most recently we went out after our oldest’s dance recital. She’s 5 and well behaved for the most part, especially if there is tic tac toe happening. The 3 year old is the major concern. We were worried at first when arriving and seeing that there was a man planning piano, live Italian music. Ugh, we thought there are probably people here who specifically came to watch him. Turns out, our 3 year old provided the perfect amount of dancing to keep the restaurant entertained while the rest of our party ate dinner. Best meal ever. Everyone left happy!
As a pregnant mom of 3, we’ve had plenty of interesting experiences. A recent one was at a local steak house. My absolute FAVORITE, might I add. Well daddy decided since mommy is permanent designated driver for the next few months, he’d have a drink. The drink came with an extra little test tube shot to add into your margarita. He poured it in and laid the test tube down. Well I made the mistake of looking at the menu (i know…I know…) I look up to him screaming. The 9 month old has poured dad’s ice water all over him, dad, and the table, the 3 year old is attempting to chew gum found under the table, and the 6 year old has picked up the test tube and informed me that “this tastes like lemon”. All while a group of “those women” (you know… the “when I have kids I’ll never…” ones) are staring at me like CPS should be on their way. Needless to say, I learned a valuable lesson….just order your regular meal and skip the menu.
My daughter is about to turn one. We took her to a hibachi style restaurant (where they cook in front of you) to celebrate some family birthdays. At this specific restaurant if its your birthday they drop a disco ball from the ceiling, bounce laser lights off of it, give you glasses with flashing lights on them and of course sing you their happy birthday song. My daughter was so enamored with this disco ball display that she started crying and and saying bye bye ? to the disco ball everytime it was done and retreated to its ceiling home. My husband’s solution was to tell the staff at spaced out increments throughout the meal that it was literally everyone’s birthday, including people we didn’t know in order to keep the disco show going for our daughter. I’m sure they LOVED us ?
We recently went to a Mexican restaurant with a fountain in the dining room. We had been seated next to it so I gave my kids each some pennies to throw in. After ordering, I looked back over to see both children hanging over the edge of the fountain fishing their coins out so they could throw them again!
Other than being general terrors, my two toddlers haven’t done anything too funny that I can remember. But! A big family story is how my sister stood up in Outback when she was about 3 and said very loudly, “My daddy’s a boy because he has a penis!”
The lesson here is never take your child out after teaching them about anatomy.
We gave in after a few attempts and now we bring our iPad so my toddler can watch cartoons. When the iPad runs out of battery we say “it died”. One time we forgot to check the battery before leaving and it “died” in the middle of our outing. Our kid started shouting at the top of his lungs to the point where the waitress came to ask if we were ok.
I absolutely hate dining out with my sister-in-law and her family. She has a “kids will be kids” attitude. Of course we’re not perfect parents and there have been many times my kids have misbehaved in public or dining out. Everytime we go out I have chat with my kids reminded them of what is acceptable behavior and when we go with them I have to add that I don’t care if her kids are doing it, it is not okay for mine to join in the antics.
I took my three girls out for icecream thinking I was giving them a treat. My youngest (age 2) began to stomp her foot getting ready for a tantrum. It seems she didn’t want ANY ice cream. When we offered a variety of flavors, she would begin with the little leg shake insisting didn’t want any. She insisted she only wanted whipped cream. I asked our very accommodating server. For a paltry quarter, she got a huge dish of whipped cream that she happily dug right into! Since then, every time we had icecream she would have whipped cream.
We encourage our boys to order for themselves but then one time my son said “Can I just have something heated up in the microwave like mommy does the cooking?” Guess he is on to me! #cookingfail
We have three kids so inevitably one of them can’t be contained at any given time. We recently went to Chipotle and my husband got in line while I sat with the kids. He came back with only his food. When I asked where the kids was it turned out they had made it wrong and would give it to me when I went to order my food. Of course the four month old needed to nurse then and I couldn’t walk up to the counter and the two basically melted down while my husband ate his food in front of them. And then when I went to get my dinner theirs still wasn’t ready. It was like a comedy of errors. Only it wasn’t funny.
One time while we were out having breakfast our 14 month old daughter became best friends with our waiter. It was very cute at first while they were smiling and laughing with eachother…but as soon as he left to get our drinks she was devastated. She would turn around in her chair, and yell across the restaurant for him. Every time he would come back she would be happy, but then he would leave again and the yelling would start all over. Funny thing is our daughter is usually very shy with strangers, it was so unusual! I’m pretty sure that waiter was some kind of baby whisperer.
After a long day at a museum, we entered the past lunchtime close to nap time danger zone. With two hangry toddlers, we weighed our dining options since our two year is extremely picky. It was Sunday and our fail safe Chick-fil-a was closed. We went out on a limb and went through the doors of PF Changs figuring she eats noodles, we can do this. We were sat right away and we thought, so far so good. Then it went downhill. Our server did not realize that we were seated in his section and kept passing is by for about 10 minutes. We finally got his attention and ordered and told him to bring the kids food out ASAP as they were on the verge of falling apart. Sure, no problem he says. Time passes. Our kids are throwing crayons, having fits, and doing what tired, hungry kids do. The food comes out and there are no kids meals. The waiter says, “wait, did you order for the kids too?” He went back to the kitchen and put a rush order while we scrambled to get the kids to pick on our meals which included spicy items. By the time their meals came, ours were picked over and we couldn’t really enjoy them because the kids were DONE. The manager came to check on us and made the situation right without us having to fuss. Lesson learned…don’t push past mealtime.
For Mother’s Day 2015, I had 2 boys under 3 years old and all I wanted was a peaceful, adult brunch with no kids. My husband and I walked to a trendy breakfast spot at 7AM and everyone brought their crying babies and screaming toddlers. I felt like the horrible mom that left my kids at home and my brunch was crazy, anyway.
We decided to be brave for Mother’s Day this year and go to a Sunday brunch. We went to a new cafe near our home and there was a 20 minute wait. We opted to wait in the car and gave our 1 year old a little orange juice while he waited in his car seat. Once inside, I immediately ordered a mimosa (it was my day, right??) and my son demanded orange juice as well. His OJ came out and we let him drink it away. Once he was finished, we realized that this was the first time he had ever had orange juice and he probably had too much since we usually dilute any juice he has. Sure enough, in true toddler fashion he threw all of the OJ up before our food even came out and everyone in the restaurant turned to look at my husband and I as we cleaned. I finished my mimosa, scarfed down my food and we left asap. Lesson learned: No new beverages while out to eat 🙂
When our food arrived at the table, the server set down my plate in front of myself and the kids meal in front of my toddler. She looks at both then switches our plates around saying, “this one looks better!” She ended up eating most of my food!
On vacation we had a long wait for a table and a lot of family. After a half hour 11 month old was getting cranky and I pulled out his Gerber star snacks. Within 5 minutes the whole family had descended upon the snacks and we all had Gerber stars as an appetizer!
Reading these comments makes me feel so much better about our restaurant experiences! Most recently, we were out to lunch with my mom at our local tavern, and it’s super noisy, which is great for covering the noise of kiddos! But my 3 year old decided that he had had enough for the day, and curled up in the booth to take a nap, still gnawing on his cheesy breadstick that he had clutched in his hand! I had to take pictures, of course. 🙂
My little guy was always the perfect gentleman at restaurants. Always happy and quiet… Until he turned 1, then it was like a flip of a switch and he began throwing things on the floor, refused to eat whatever we ordered for him, screaming, crying, and trying to get out of his high chair. I always get super disappointed when we get a high chair that has a broken latch. And my son always seems to know! Hoping I can use some of the tips here to make future trips go a bit smoother.
My husband and I have four kids, ages 7, 4, 3, and 2, so for obvious reasons, we don’t frequent restaurants much these days. However, when our oldest was the only one and just a toddler we used to venture out to eat often. On one such occasion my husband had called while he was driving the freeways home and suggested we meet at the Olive Garden in town, I headed there first as it was Friday and bound to be packed. Sure enough there was a hefty wait and we just played out side while we waited for daddy to get out of traffic and our name to be called. While we were waiting my son pooped in his diaper. I went into the bathroom and changed him, only to find that it was my last diaper. No big deal I thought, what are the odds he will do that again? ROOKIE MISTAKE. My husband finally shows up far past our usual dinner time and our name is called. We sit down with a grumpy and hungry toddler who is not happy about being restrained in the high chair, as toddlers never really are. We order our food while my son is loosing his mind, because breadsticks are great, but real food and bed time is better. Then I smell it. I hoped with all of my heart it wasn’t him, but sure enough I check, low and behold what do we have here, but an explosive poop situation. I take my son to the bathroom to change him as best as I can, completely mortified and frantic because, I HAVE NO DIAPERS. AT ALL. NOT IN THE BAG. NOT IN THE CAR. NONE. I clean him up and change his clothes. I have no choice but to use a toilet seat cover, or three as a makeshift diaper. I put clothes on him, say 1000 prayers he doesn’t pee and walk back to the table. I declare to my husband I am leaving and he can get the food to go and I walk to the car. Unbeknownst to me he had ordered me a glass, and himself, of Sangria to help me feel better about the stressful toddler at our table. Immediately after I leave the drinks show up. He sits and enjoys them, alone, eats his food, and then gets mine boxed and heads home. The moral of the story, always have diapers in the car.
Oh man. We just experienced #24 last week. Husband had to whisk away the 18 month old while I requested to go boxes for our meals and let the 5 year old finish her dinner. We’ve had puking at the table, green beans tossed behind the back into the booth behind us, sassy toddlers giving servers a hard time. Honestly it’s amazing we still brave dining out.
Our van was getting fixed so my 5 year old and 3 year old and I ran across the street to a cafe for breakfast. My kids are both (ahem) “high spirited” so going to a restaurant is always a crap shoot. They were so good! For once I felt like the good mom. A guy even came over and told me how great my kids were being. In the usual craziness of public outings, I think back to that lovely day.
Rookie mistake when taking our son to a restaurant for the 1st time was we didn’t realize that om Friday night the restaurant we were at hosted a huge March Madness party. We thought we beat the crowd half through our meal it turned into rowdy drunkfest. We quickly finished our meals and tried to get out of there as soon as possible but not before running into a few people we knew, looked at us like crazy people for having our baby is a rowdy restaurant. Now we know better to check see what events they have on weekend nights
It was a few weeks after having my 2nd; I’m pretty sure it was the first time we had gone out to eat. Inevitably, the baby started fussing. Perfect timing, the second I was about to latch her on the server walked over to take our order and got a free show! He did not skip a beat! Like it was nothing he just said, “Hey I’m a dad. Do what you gotta do!” Needless to say he got a great tip!
New Year’s Eve, my husband and I took our 2 kids and our nephew out for dinner. First my son spills his drink all over the table and then once the food is served and we start eating, he throws up in the table. Happy new year!
We where in town visiting friends & my son at the time prolly 3 kept saying how sleepy he was & that he wanted to go I kept telling him 5 more minutes & gave him crayons to color & he stood up to color we’ll he feel asleep standing up with a crayon in his hand I have video footage of course lol
My husband, 8 month old daughter, and I were seated at a table at a restaurant. While our waiter was taking our order, my daughter was reaching out her hand towards the napkins placed in the front pocket of his apron… in front of his crotch. Thankfully, he walked away before she got her hands on ANYthing.
I think we can all agree, it’s the worst when your child can’t stop looking over the back of the booth at the people dining behind you. Wish I had a better story…wait, maybe I don’t. ?
My toddler is finally at an age where can go out to eat without it being a holy terror. I think the fact that we let her eat tons of bread and French fries is enough to ply her silence.
My daughter was two and potty training. It was our first outing without diapers. We went to the lake boating and stopped at a 50’s style restaurant that had a table outside to order. I was focusing on the menu and what to order when the waitress stopped and said, “Um… She’s peeing.” Sure enough my daughter had a nice little pee puddle around her feet because she was standing up on the bench. I was mortified but we made it through!
When we went to a restaurant with our brand new baby, our firstborn, I went in the bathroom to change her. The changing table was in the handicap stall. I laid her down, binky in mouth, and changed her. When I picked her up the binky popped right out of her mouth and smack dab into the toilet! We still laugh about it.
My 3-year old poured salt on the table at a restaurant and licked it off before I could stop her
We used to take a portable high chair that clamps on to the table to restaurants. Well one time, hubby starts tightening the clamps and the glass table top shatters with the server standing by. We were mortified. First time parenting mishaps!
I can’t choose between these two. When my son was one and a half we were at a wedding and he threw up all over the table just as everyone was finishing up with eating. The other one was when he was two and a half and we were out to breakfast before his adoption and he dumped an entire glass of ice water in my lap and giggled. We had to rush home so I could change before court. Good memories for me to look back on a chuckle at.
When I was a kid I was at a restaurant with my family. A large man walked into the door and my 5-year-old brother saw him and started yelling (loud enough for the rest of the restaurant to hear), “Dad, there’s a fat man here! There’s a fat man!”
We took my son to a white table cloth restaurant with a lot of my family while on vacation. He ate his meal and proceeded to good around in his high chair, until he vomited A LOT. My husband caught a large amount of it in one of the white napkins to try to contain the mess. But, instead my son grabbed the napkin (while my husband was trying to ask a waiter for help) and pulled it over his head dumping the vomit all over himself. It was awful!!! Still a reason I avoid taking him to restaurants!
Once we were out with our newest little guy. The waitress said the highchair flipped over to accommodate a baby seat. Mid-dinner, the seat and baby ended up on the floor! I never have moved so fast! Now if I someone tells me about that seat, I decline. I’m not willing to take that chance again. Fortunately, no one was hurt. I much prefer the sling that is becoming more popular.
We recently went to dinner at the Buffalo Wild Wings that opened near us with our very chatty, oversharing 3 year old and our shove food as quickly down my gullet as possible 1 year old. When the waitress came to take our order, my 3 year old shared all the details of her outfit, down to who the characters were on her underwear and even asked the waitress if she had ‘Everest big girl underwear’. When their food came, 1 year old started squawking like a pterodactyl because I wasn’t getting food in her mouth quick enough, so my 3 year old says loudly in a huffy voice ‘Evie! Calm your butty butt!’ Lol…thank goodness for noisy restaurants.
Oh man. When my daughter was around 5 months old we attended a family birthday dinner at a notoriously loud and crowded restaurant. It’s always a stressful experience but having a fussy semi-newborn and still struggling with PPD made the outing and absolute nightmare. I was overwhelmed with everyone placing orders for food and talking over one another. Then, my daughter began screaming as soon as our food arrived. Leaving me very hungry and frustrated. I took her out to the car to nurse and get some peace and quiet. I was crying and having a semi-meltdown as I nursed her when there was a knock on the car door. A woman I was distant friends with saw me leave the restaurant and she wanted to meet my new baby and say hi. Weeell, I was an absolute hot mess and between sniffles tried to smile and have a normal conversation, probably making the situation all the more awkward. She pretended like nothing was askew and about a year later when I saw her again quietly mentioned how hard that stage of life is, bringing back all the awkwardness! At the time it was terrible, but looking back it’s semi-funny! Until I start realizing I’ll probably go through the same thing with this new baby coming in a few weeks. Agh!
My son has recently learned to talk. We were at chick fil a with several other families and while their children were eating quietly, my son proceeded to yell “car” repeatedly. Why you ask?? Because chick fil a has a car hanging in their play area…….
I am a mother of 4 who regularly eats out. We have good restaurant visits and bad ones. I have been known to pour salt/pepper shakers onto the placemats so the kids can make art (like they do in the sand). I will bring travel games like battleship or cards. The toddlers like their chance to fiddle with game pieces. On bad days, the kids lick the salt shaker and put pepper in each other’s hair… and start slumping over the booths making awkward, eye contact with other diners.
My two boys take turns going on a date with mommy. Before the date we talk about manners and gestures of respect. They have both learned to hold the door for people, assisting with the chair and making the extra effort to be polite! It’s so fun for me to go out with them and get dressed up!
I took my son to Chic fil a one night. He always insists on sitting on the booth with me. I turned away for one second. When I turned back around he was kissing this random man on the cheek and hugging him whispering “I love you.” As a mother, im proud that he love people, but I’m also terrified that he loves people. He’s not even two yet, I know he’ll learn boundaries. But until then, I can’t take my eyes off of him for a second.
My husband and I took our 1.5 year old daughter to eat. Right before going into the restaurant I changed her diaper in the car, so that being said I left the diapers and wipes in the car. We were sitting in a booth (because of course she also refused to sit in a high chair or booster seat) and she was sitting right next to me. She spilled a little bit of drink in the seat and sat in it so her butt got a little wet. About 15 minutes later I’m sitting there just patting her butt and snuggling on her and touching her wet butt like no big deal. Well I started to think, “Wow her butt is pretty wet, she couldn’t have spilled all that drink.” First instinct: smell my hand. Yep, she pooped all over herself (and Now all over me!), and not just regular poop, it was THE MOST diarrhea I have ever seen in my life. And it was coming out of her pants and halfway up her light pink-now brown shirt. It was so horrible. Me and my husband then had to think of a way to sneak her out because we were sitting at the furthest possible table away from the door. We sat there for 10 minutes freaking out about what to do. “If we carry her we’ll be covered in s**t!” And, “if she walks everyone will see her and that’s disgusting since they’re eating.” We went through it all. So we did what any normal person would do, nonchalantly asked for a ton of napkins (and the check), shoved the napkins in her back and scooped her up and BOLTED out the nearest back door possible. Then stripped her naked in the parking lot. It was so so so bad. We both ended up covered in straight dookie. And I can only imagine what the people I ran past were thinking.
We tried eating out for the first time as a family for Father’s Day. My baby then was 8 months old. We went to a traditional Japanese restaraunt because we really wanted sushi. We impressed ourselves with bringing baby food, toys, snacks, etc. Snapped a few photos. When it came time to finally eat, we thought it had all gone so well but our son somehow got hold of some chopsticks, stuck them into his mouth, poking himself, gagging, screamed and cried. I felt so so awful. One of the sweet owners, who barely spoke English came to me and said, “Oh, baby is hungry!” I just asked for our check and tried to comfort my baby. He survived, somehow.
My husband, myself and our 2 yr old daughter recently moved to Modesto, CA from Salt Lake City. Being new to the area, we wanted to try some good restaurants in the area. We found ourselves at Ralstons Goat. It was a semi hip, small plate restaurant with nothing on the menu really for our daughter. (your tip to check the menu online before heading off to eat really stood out to me?) We settled on a Belgium waffle for her and the waitress knew it was for our two year old. They brought us the crispiest hardest waffle I’ve ever seen. There was black burned edges all over. My husband and I didn’t even want to eat it. We didn’t want to be “those ” people so we just wolfed down our own food and booked it back home before things got too out of hand. Needless to say, she was starving and she had a nice bowl of mac n cheese for dinner at home.
My daughter (1 at the time) screamed bloody murder everytime our server would come up to the table. The server just laughed it off but I felt super bad about it. That was the one and only time she ever did that. 5 years later and we still have no idea why.
My 2.5 yr old had two drinks in front of him, one was his lemonade and the other was my husband’s root beer. He grabbed the root beer and the expression on his face was just priceless after taking a sip!
MY child is just as picky as any toddler, but what he chooses to eat is pretty different. He loves sashimi, but with no fancy sauces or anything just a little soy sauce. We had all the waiters doing a double take when we asked if we could get what ever raw fish dish they had with no sauce for my two year old. One waiter said he explained to the cook in the kitchen it was for a 2 year old and they didn’t believe him. The major down side is my son is a pretty expensive dinner date. I’ve seen him eat 6 pieces of raw fish in one minute and ask for more and he usually doesn’t want whats on the kids menu.
I wouldn’t say we had any great dining out story. We stopped eating out for about a year and half with my son at about 10 months because he would scream and ultimately one of us would end up eating alone and the other outside or in the car with him
My son had always been a good eater so eating at restaurants was not a problem until one day after a long flying day we went to eat at the hotel restaurant and he went completely nuts! Throwing food, the silverware and the ice in the water, everybody was judging us but I didn’t do anything to make him stop we were all so exhausted. I became the mom I always used to judge. Nothing like having kids to give you a full serving of humility.