Dinners out?

futuremom2b

Hi!  Haven't posted in a while since I've been really busy, but try to lurk when I get a chance!

Question - do you take your twins (and/or other kids) out to dinner often?  When mine were infants, I thought THAT was hard, and I look back and think how easy that was compared to now.  Now they're nearing 2 and dinners out with them in downright impossible. They don't want to sit still, they want to throw their plates, creates messes, draw on anything other than the kid menu, etc.  Do you just NOT do dinners out with them anymore? 

And when you do go out, do you bring your own plates/utensils as to avoid them possibly throwing the real plates and breaking them??

 I love my dinner outs, but I think this will need to be put on an indefinite hold!

UsedToBeGoldie

we try to keep going out with them about once/week or so - just so they are used to it... if you don't go- they don't know how to behave.

We used to take Griffin ALL THE TIME - but of course when we had the twins that wasn't as easy - nor could we afford it as much.

We go places we know they can make noise and a mess and it's OK (friendlys, Chevys, diners, etc) and it allows them to work on learning to eat at a restaurant.

Never go too close to nap/bed time... that is always bad.  Always know you might need to say "please pack it all to go!" and leave if things go bad.

but in general our boys do well.

amanda31H

We were on vacation a couple times this summer, so every dinner was out while we were away.

In general, we don't take them out to dinner, but we take them out to lunch. If we're going out to dinner, DH and I like to have the time to ourselves! 

Lunches out aren't different logistically though...except that you don't run into bedtime (but you can run into nap time).  I bring books for them and a couple of (not loud) toys for them to play with.  I've taught them not to throw their plates and, for the most part, if there's food on the plate - they won't throw it.  The love the bread basket- so I always ask for that right away, and keep them snacking until the food arrives.  Once they're done with their food I immediately take the plate away.

 

keg

We do it relatively often.  We generally go early (5-5:30ish) and go to kid friendly places.  For some it works best getting their kid's food first, but for us, I've found that's a recipe for disaster.  I seem to have decent luck entertaining them before the food comes but once they are finished eating they are done.  When they were younger, I carried the Tiny Diner placements and used those instead of plates.  Now, we just use the restaurant plates and silverware.  I also carry our "secret weapons"--ipod touches with toddler apps that will keep them occupied when all else fails. 

OrangeSmoke

keg:

We do it relatively often.  We generally go early (5-5:30ish) and go to kid friendly places.  For some it works best getting their kid's food first, but for us, I've found that's a recipe for disaster.  I seem to have decent luck entertaining them before the food comes but once they are finished eating they are done.  When they were younger, I carried the Tiny Diner placements and used those instead of plates.  Now, we just use the restaurant plates and silverware.  I also carry our "secret weapons"--ipod touches with toddler apps that will keep them occupied when all else fails. 

This.  We try to go out at least once a week (usually on Sundays) so they "know" how to do it.

Usually we hang when the food is ordered... and when the food gets there, that's when they go in the high chair.  I find that they have a limited high chair tolerance. 

I might be breaking down and getting the Ipad soon.

 

regenab

We took them out up until like 17 months. Then at that point they became horrible to be out eating. So we didn't do it again until they were over 2 1/2 years old. Now at 3 we usually go out to eat once a month when DH is home. I have taken them out by myself to eat out, but I usually do kids eat free nights at restaurants when the wait staff is expecting lots of kids to be there, so if things go bad, I don't feel horrible. Or I take them out for lunch during the week when it is really slow at most places (I don't pick high traffic lunch crowd places).

It gets a lot easier when they can sit in a booth or chair and stay put for the meal and will actually color, which for us didn't happen until 3.

AliciaC19

Yikes! Something I didn't think about...

My singletons were always good when I took them out but I always had things to occupy them - coloring book and crayons, books, toys, etc. I always kept them in their high chairs, which was easy because at home, if they weren't in their chair, they didn't get food, including snacks. I tried to avoid nap time and went to kid friend restaurants at off-peak times. Most of the things PPs have mentioned.

erinruns

I've taken my girls out to eat fairly regularly since they were a year old.  The trick is to take them places conducive to kids.  We hit Noodle & Co all the time because it's food they like, and the food comes out fast.  Similarly pizza places, Chipotle, and Pei Wei.  I tried a sports bar once, but they were super busy and our food took forever so of course the girls had issues.