How often do you take your child to restaurants?

Starry Again · March 2014

What types of restaurants?

What are you normally ordering for them there?

Do they tend to make a mess / be loud / tantrums?

Starry Again · March 2014

J probably goes out with us twice a week. Probably once a month to a place with entrees over $10 a person.

J still eats very little so I normally only order her food separately from my own if I think it is something she will particularly enjoy. Example - Chipotle I get a kids meal since she will nibble on quesadilla, rice, and cheese, and it comes with a milk (maybe you all will flame me that I let her drink it since it's 1% and not WCM, lol).

She is normally pretty good but certainly not to the point where I would take her anyway fancy. We try to limit the experience to 45 minutes max. She does make a mess which we try to clean up and tip generously (obviously doesn't apply to Chipotle example).

I sometimes wonder about magic toddler whom I could take to a real restaurant and have be content. The few times we have taken her somewhere more upscale we let her watch crap on the kindle.

Sillygirl85 · March 2014

We go out 2-3 times a month. We try to go to places that cater to kids such as Bugaboo Creek, Red Robin, Friendly's etc. Elijah loves to color and he loves bread so as long as we get bread to munch on while waiting and we have crayons and something to color on he does well. We also strategically plan a diaper change/walk about mid way through to give him a break.

Most of the time we get him his own meal. If he's sick or teething I bring pouches and give him food off of our plates cause I know he won't eat a meal then.

Elijah has gotten much better about making a mess. He is actually a pretty neat eater these days. We only picked up three french fries last time we were out. He very rarely throws a tantrum. or is loud.

hilsy85 · March 2014

Maybe 1x a week or so? Usually for lunch. We haven' done dinner since he was maybe 4 or 5 months. We don't have a ton of chain restaurants near us, and there are a ton of babies in our neighborhood, so I kind of feel like everywhere is somewhat "family friendly", in that most places have high chairs.

I'll usually order him eggs, grilled chicken, grilled, veggies, pasta, panini, or he'll just have some of what we have.

I put on a disposable placemat so usually the mess is contained on that. He is generally not tooo loud. He's never thrown a tantrum--he'll sometimes whine if he's hungry and the food isn't ready, so we'll bring a pre meal snack. Generally he's pretty good as long as we time it right.

pb_bride · March 2014

Once a week at restaurants or at someone else's home - always lunch.

We usually eat at small ethnic restaurants in our town - Asian, Mexican, Greek, BBQ etc. We almost never eat at chain restaurants, just not our style and don' see the need when there are so many other wonderful choices around.

We always order entrees for ourselves and I give DS food from my plate. I try to order stuff that I think he'll like. There's almost always bread or noodles (esp Asian food) in our entrees and they are reliable standbys that DS will eat. I pack a bowl of cut fruits and DS gets that for "dessert."

He has been very, very good in terms of eating out, since around 9 or 10 months. Prior to that, DH & I almost never ate out... DS isn't very vocal yet and he usually is so busy looking around that he doesn't make much (if any) noise. He also is out of this food-throwing phase so we have very little mess. He's not a messy eater either. WE use the TinyDiner placemat so the food is somewhat contained. I don't think he's ever thrown a tantrum in a restaurant. I know this "good" phase won't last forever so DH & I are trying to eat out as often as we can!

Rachelilly23 · March 2014

We were eating out about 3 times a week before H deployed. Usually dinner. Now I won't go out anywhere to eat with both of my kids by myself. No way in hell.

We typically do ethnic food too since they're much more vegetarian friendly, if such a thing exists in the south. Friendlier, let's say. Mexican and thai are our favorites but we do Italian occasionally too or Red Robin for veggie burgers and Mellow Mushroom is a favorite chain of ours for pizza. DS1 always gets a kids meal, but we share from our plates with DS2. There's always plenty. Sometimes I bring a pouch or two for DS2 if it's something he won't be able to eat.

We've been eating out since he was a newborn. So he's used to it. He's usually pretty well behaved but he does have hos moments. Sometimes we have to sort of walk him around a little when he's not ready to sit in the high chair. But once there's food, he's set. We typically go places where we know the wait isn't bad to get seated and get our food.

Sometimes he makes a mess, sometimes not. Depends on what we're eating. If he gets really messy I try to clean up a bit and tip the waiter more. The week before Christmas he projectile vomited all over himself and the high chair in a Mexican restaurant. The staff was super cool about it and did what they could to assist. I was mortified. But yeah, I think we left a $20 tip or something.

We've had a couple tantrums but they're rare. It's usually my fault when it does happen (if we go out for lunch and we skip morning nap because I was running errands, for example, when he still typically naps twice a day.)

lady dixneuf · March 2014

Probably about once a week but I really avoid it if possible.
If it's more like a diner (which is all I'm willing to do) I usually get scrambled eggs.
It's really not something I enjoy

Ziegeficker · March 2014

I would say once or twice a week. I mainly stick to family-friendly places, though occasionally we take him to lunch at a local brewery/restaurant (still baby-friendly at that hour, just not as much as, say, a Denny's). We order him grilled cheese sandwiches or chicken nuggets and milk. I would say he behaves pretty well, and if he starts to get crazy we are those parents who whip out the iPad with Charlie Brown movies :-P

CnAnA · March 2014

Usually once a week or so. More oftrn with me because we will hit up taco bell or something while we run errands. Usually she will still eat food from my plate. She does pretty well usually. I take snacks for her for before the food arrives. She loves the colors, too. Tantrums usually come when she is done eating but we are not. But she can usually be distracted pretty well.

StefanieM522 · March 2014

We usually go out once a week sometimes twice depending on how busy we are. Wesley does really well at the restaurants I keep him occupied and just I i have been ordering off the kids menu for him. Sometimes he will still must eat off our plates.if it's taking a long time for the food to arrive I will pull out the kindle and let him watch puppy until food gets there. I usually clean up after him but if he made a huge mess I will usually tip a bit extra.

Mrs_Lady · March 2014

It depends a few times a month he eats what we eat or I bring his food
If I kEep him entertained its all good

ac1259 · March 2014

We will maybe 1-2 times a week. Dinner in a decent restaurant usually involves my in laws who take over the majority of Bethany duty in the restaurant. She's actually pretty good! We had one time where the waitress sucked and we sat in Longhorn for 2-3 hours and she got a little grumpy at the end but overall was fine! She's a pretty chill kid in general.

ac1259 · March 2014

We will maybe 1-2 times a week. Dinner in a decent restaurant usually involves my in laws who take over the majority of Bethany duty in the restaurant. She's actually pretty good! We had one time where the waitress sucked and we sat in Longhorn for 2-3 hours and she got a little grumpy at the end but overall was fine! She's a pretty chill kid in general.

We usually order her some form of chicken fingers, not amazingly healthy but she's a very picky eater lately and I'll give her whatever to make sure she eats!

Wally3 · March 2014

Usually once a week. Mostly dinner. Ds2 has more trouble eating out then ds1 ever did. We go all types of places though we typically avoid chains and stick to smaller local places. Once a month I take both boys out as a treat when dh works late. Then we do IHOP or panera bread or tiaeanna flats.

LorMor · March 2014

We'll go out for breakfast with her on the weekend. Anywhere with outside seating works for us - she is usually very good for a while but then needs to run around. We order her a child's portion of scrambled eggs and bacon, and she chomps her way through that very well. We'll take turns entertaining her with a walk/explore if we want to hang around after eating.

She's suddenly become a lot more brave and will go and explore on her own - to where she can't see us. (We make sure one of us can see her.) I'm impressed, because she was always quite timid before.

Wally3 · March 2014

They eat quasdillas grilled cheese nuggets pasta. I get a fruit or veggi side.

AMT1107 · March 2014

We go out once a week, if I don't feel like cooking 2 times a week. Every Sunday we go to a local restaurant / sports bar. They have a TV in every booth, about 10 big screen tvs, so DS stays occupied. We usually get burger, chicken fingers or mac and cheese for him and either apple wedges or fries as a side. Last night we went to BWW, he did really well there, since it was really loud.

Lately, he has been doing really bad anywhere we go. He doesn't want to sit and eat and screams when he doesn't get his way. It's more work than it's worth sometimes.

KarenW924 · March 2014

We go out maybe once or twice a week. I actually like eating out with DS because he eats a lot more/better than when he is at home. He doesn't make too much noise but there is usually a huge mess at the end, which I feel badly about.

LorMor · March 2014

@mbm1983: don't be scared to try spicy food... T's go-to dish is a very spicy curry. (We don't eat spicy food much, but I tried this and she loved it. I can hide all sorts of healthy goodies in it!)

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