Eating out in restaurants with your child

BuckheadBride06 · July 2009

Is there a certain rule to follow when eating out with your little one? Macy is a good eater and when she is done she will start throwing the food around. I'm usually quick about taking the food away from her so she can't make a huge mess on the floor. My mom went out with us to dinner last weekend and tells me today that she thought it wasn't right that we let Macy do that. WE don't let her do it but since she is starting to learn how to eat on her own that is what she does to tell us she is done. I refuse to spoon feed her when we are out in public because she is not a baby anymore. She needs to learn to feed herself. Plus I can't control what she does, I can only try to catch it quickly when it happens.

So should we just leave her home or eat in until she eats properly? DH use to be a waiter in college and said that they would have to clean up after kids all the time to eat. I'm just wondering if my mom have forgotten how a toddler eats or if I'm the rude customer for bringing my child to dinner with us.

MrsL1022 · July 2009

If you don't take her out she will not learn to behave in public places. I try to just keep things as neat as possible when out with Colin. He is a baby and he is still learning eating and how to behave. It's not like Macy throwing food is causing extra work. They have to clean the floors regardless. I try to pick things up but I don't stress too much about it. I can ususally take the food out of his hand when we are out and he winds up to throw. Just leave a few extra $ on the tip and enjoy eating out.

donna&ed · July 2009

Interested to hear everybody's input. Also, what are things you can do to help toddler behave at restaurants. For the first time last night, William made a scene at this nice restaurant that we went to. I was totally not prepared for it. Nothing was calming him down and he wanted to play with our sushis instead of coloring or playing with his toy.

ebearwife · July 2009

What Lauren said. I leave a couple extra bucks.

I spoon feed Polly about half her dinner bc she doesn't have teeth (except 2 on bottom) and she really likes food like yogurt and applesauce and she can't do that herself. I always take P's hand and look at her and say "Do not throw your food." to her. She knows.

auburnbride2be · July 2009

I try to clean up after DD as much as possible when we eat out. She eats well, but there is still a pile of food on the floor when she is done. So, I just get a napkin and pick up the majority of it. I think the servers probably appreciate it. I also try to tip a little extra too. I think it is rude to leave a huge mess if you can help it, but not rude to take a child out to eat. It's not like you are taking her to 5 star restaurants, right? I would think restaurants that are fairly kid friendly expect children to come in.

Janimal · July 2009

I'm with you. Clearly there are some restaurants not to bring children, but it's a given that kids will make a mess. We took DD to Flying Biscuit last night for dinner. They offer free kids' meals Mon-Thurs so I figure they expect messes! There were more little dices of her food on the floor that ended up in her belly. We just leave a great tip and apologize to our waiter.

Other times I've gotten extra napkins or used wipes and done a quick cleanup of bits on the floor.

slwprincess · July 2009

I am a big believer that if you want your kids to learn how to behave in public you have to give them the opportunity to practice. We take gavin out to dinner at least once a week. Yes, it is exhausting, but we think it's important so we do it anyway. He does make a mess and I always clean it up- even if that means getting down on my hands and knees and picking it up off the nasty floor. That is not the waitresses job, IMO. I may not get every little piece up, but I at least make an effort to clean up the big stuff. Also, we use those plastic disposable placemats- that is great for keeping the mess on the table under control- then I just put all the stuff from the floor on there and fold it up so it's easy for them to clean up after we leave. Another thing that I've found helpful is to go places where there are distractions or the atmosphere is fairly loud so that he doesn't disturb other people. We like Cracker Barrel so that he can play w/ the toys in the store while we wait for our food. Or waffle house is always good b/c they really don't mind the mess at all and Gavin likes to watch them cook and play with the juke box :-) Japanese cook in front of you always keeps him entertained so we like that too. But I will say this... I finally started to drop the baby weight when Gavin started eating table foods. I'm always too busy to finish my meal now!

bulie · July 2009

slwprincess:

I am a big believer that if you want your kids to learn how to behave in public you have to give them the opportunity to practice. We take gavin out to dinner at least once a week. Yes, it is exhausting, but we think it's important so we do it anyway. He does make a mess and I always clean it up- even if that means getting down on my hands and knees and picking it up off the nasty floor. That is not the waitresses job, IMO. I may not get every little piece up, but I at least make an effort to clean up the big stuff. Also, we use those plastic disposable placemats- that is great for keeping the mess on the table under control- then I just put all the stuff from the floor on there and fold it up so it's easy for them to clean up after we leave.

ditto this!

MLvK · July 2009

Ditto PP. ? I always clean up after Evie. ?I take that Kiddopotmus rubber placemat with us and put it out for her. ?She makes a mess, for sure. ?But I pick up the pieces after we are done. ? I find she makes more a mess of me though most of the time.?

I was a waitress for a few years and I have seen the worst messes. ? I was also a waitress at a country club of very entitled people. ? One guest left the room for us to clean up after her kid threw most of his food then puked all over the table and floor. ? ?Neither parent even offered to help.

?Two things I won't do after being a waitress: leave a mess or let my kids run around the restaurant. ???

Because I spent years cleaning up after other people's kids, I swore I would never let anyone clean up after mine. ?I did leave the mess once when Evie threw all of the sugar packets on the floor then dropped her applesauce on the floor our way to Florida in June. ?It was late, we were exhausted and I am pretty sure the staff was happier to see us leave than to see us clean up. ? ? It was by no means a 5 star restaurant though, not that it makes it any better.?

We do take Evie to nice places though. ?Kids need the practice. ? ?

JoJoEspana · July 2009

ditto the pp. They will never learn to behave if you don't take them out. We have taken her everywhere from Chik-fil-A to maggianos, to Milton's. We use the disposable placemats, and when seh starts throwing her food I just take it away and try to pick up the big pieces. I agree that its not the waitresses job to clean the floor, so I try and pick up what I can.

We don't eat at a lot of chain generically "kid friendly" places like Chuck E Cheese, so we just do our best to keep her entertained. We'll usually hold her and play with/read to her until the food comes because she gets antsy in her highchair w/out food. Then we have a bottle of milk or water ready for her for when she finishes.

soon2b3 · July 2009

I've been lucky that Danielle has always been fairly well behaved out. I make certain she sits in her seat and does not run around. We HAVE gotten up and left before if she's not remaining seated. I find that more annoying than dropping food on the floor. heck, sometimes I drop food on the floor. Anyways, all the pp's pretty much have it covered. Just a tip that i've found helpful...order the babies food as soon as possible so it comes as soon as possible (and perhaps cools as soon as possible). So If Danielle is in a ravishing mood, i make sure to order something for her immediately.

I also bump up the tip if there is a huge mess, but do my best to clean it up. I have some girflriends that have a much harder time w/ their kids not sitting at the table, running around, and being really messy...and i find that it takes consistency. I MAKE her sit down in her seat. She knows that we WILL leave if she's misbehaving. She'll tattle on her friends sometimes though too...mommy, so and so isn't sitting down. So i have to tell her, you take care of yourself, their mommy will take care of them.

I definitely think it's important to take kids out to dinner, but dont' have unrealistic expectations...know that they will get kranky if they are starving, be prepared w/ some sort of activity/book/snack/gadget.

My ILs think that a 2 year old should be able to sit perfectly still for a 4 course meal and use perfect manners, and clean the plate in a cloth napkin & candlelight restaurant. It's just NOT going to happen! :-)

julienandy · July 2009

We are in a horrible phase where SC wants to sit on my lap or get up from the table.. GRRRR its hard, but have to just keep trying and disciplining. I don't think right now I would take her to a nicer restaurant as I totally would be stressed and not able to enjoy.

I agree, you have to order theirs first and just be fast. We ususally take crayons and coloring books to keep her occupied.

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