I want to know what your restaurant experience with your chidren is like.
How old are your children?
Do they behave or is it a disaster every time?
Do you order them their own meal?
Anything else you would like to add?

My kids are 14 months old and 2-1/2 years old. We don't go to restaurants very often because I'm always afraid it will be disasterous. Usually it's fine though as long as neither of them needs a nap. DH and I usually just give them stuff off our plate. Occasionally I'll order a kids meal for them to share. As long as it doesn't take too long for some kind of food to get to the table, it's fine.

I have to say though, I never appreciated a quiet meal out with my husband until these kids came around.

Gabrielle is usually pretty good when we go out. I always try to make sure we have crackers, cereal or some other snack. I also have a book and a toy she likes. We don't usually order her a meal of her own b/c she doesn't ever eat it. Unless we get something she can't eat, she just shares off of our plate.

She is 14 months old right now.

We used to take our daughter out to restaurants all the time. Now that I've added a son to the mix I've been afraid. :lol:

Lexie is 2 and she's pretty good. I don't think we've ever had a "disaster" with her. I always take crayons and coloring book and she can be amused by that for a good while. Otherwise there's usually other stuff to play with... like mommy's ice, or napkin, or utensils :lol:

As for her meal, in the begining I didn't order her anything and I'd always take something like Gerber Graduates, crackers, green beans, but as she got older I didn't waste time to pack all that up. So she'll get a kids meal now and then.

I'm too afraid that if I take both of my kids that neither hubby or I will be able to enjoy our meal. My son doesn't seem to stay happy in one place for very long. :rolleyes:

Joe is a little over 2 and Frances is 7 months. We don't eat out very often because it's such a hassle, but Joe is usually pretty good when we do. We get him his own meal off the children's menu (we only take him places that have one :) ).

IMO, it's just a matter of setting expectations (your own). You're not going to have a nice leisurely meal. And you're going to spend a lot of time making sure that your toddler isn't bored. And the key thing is you have to be prepared to leave in the middle if it's not working. Fortunately we've never had to do that so far.

Dennis

I have gone out to eat with Cameron. Most of the time it is for lunch. There has been one time when I had to leave because he was screaming the whole time. Luckily it was with a friend who has two children and could sympathize with me. I either get Cameron a kids meal or for the one place that we go to, they have a toddler plate. You get a drink and french fries for $1.50 and then share your meal.

Matthew is 23 months (today). He's usually pretty good. He is now in a mood that he wants to stand (if it's a booth), but we'll get him a high chair in those cases or a booster, depending on how he is. I always give him some crackers/bread/fruit snacks to keep him occupied and I bring a couple little Pooh figurines for him to play with and almost every place has crayons. He also likes to blow the paper off straws (aiming at mommy, of course) and that can keep him occupied for a while. We have had to eat quickly a couple times, but not too often. It really all depends on how tired/hyper he is.

We sometimes buy him a kids meal, sometimes not. It really just depends on where we are and how hungry he is.

Jude is usually pretty good too. I asked this question, because we go out to dinner quite a bit and I usually get slack from people for taking him so much and everyone thinks it must be really difficult.
I have learned that he would rather sit in a booster seat than a high chair. He can crawl/climb out of those too quickly now. He is good about eating when we do, and i think its because we have always eaten at the same time, but my biggest problem is keeping him occupied till the food comes. Usually he is fine with a toy or a fork, but sometimes he gets a little restless.
I have ordered him his own meal a few times. Mostly at breakfast cause we order him cream of wheat with raisins and a few times we have ordered him a grilled cheese sandwich or something while we ate steak. Mostly though, he eats off our plate.

I have to say though, I never appreciated a quiet meal out with my husband until these kids came around.

AMEN!! :nod:

My DD is 2 and DS is 4 months. Going out to eat is such a hassle. Ellie doesn't like to sit in the high chair. She wants to be running around the whole time. I have to find something to keep her occupied the whole time. It's so exhausting. When we do go out, we usually order her her own meal and take whatever's left home. SHe loves chicken and french fries and I can sometimes get 3 meals out of one from a restaurant.

Austin's 5, and Jackson's 20 months, and I don't have any problem taking them to a restaurant. Dh, however, thinks differently. :rolleyes: He seems to expect it to be a disaster, which means I have to work harder to make it NOT be a disaster. If he'd just have a positive attitude, it'd be fine, I'm sure.

Austin gets his own meal, and we either share with Jackson or order something small (fruit, toast). I always choose family-friendly places, and have stuff (toys, crayons) to keep them both happy.

Katie is three months old and we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to take a baby to a restaurant. I'm sure it will get more difficult, but for now it is fairly easy. I nurse her before we leave home and then she's pretty content to sit in her seat and watch us or (more often) to stare at the light above our table.

We haven't had any problems with taking Joshua (2) and Kyle(4 months) out to a restaurant..maybe the worse is yet to come.:dunno:.

Sometimes Joshua will get a kids meal but mostly he will eat off of our plates.

I occasionally take my 21 month old out to a restaurant but only places with paper napkins. I figure if they have paper napkins then we are safe :lol: She will do fine usually and at this age is really good because usually she is so hungry that she eats great and loves to watch people. But when she was younger I didn't go out with her as much because I was just paranoid she would act up even though I only remember two times she really did act up in a restaurant while we were on vacation and had to eat out every time we ate a meal. DH would always make it worse because he did not like taking her anywhere inside and it took him until she was almost 1 1/2 to go to a McDonald's with her and eat inside :rolleyes: He always made it worse on me and much more stressful.

I also try to remember to take a couple of small toys or goldfish for the wait if we were ordering from a waitress so she will have something to do. Oh and another thing that is good to do if you forget to take a snack for the child is to ask the waitress to bring a few packs of crackers on out or bring your child's meal on out before you get your meal so they can get started.

What always bothered me when taking Emily to a restaurant those couple of times she acted out was the other parents with little babies and children staring at me like I had the worst little baby. :mad: I guess they thought their child was perfect because they weren't the ones acting up. I'm sure most kids do it at some age. My son did it more when he was around 4-5. He skipped the terrible 2's :lol: and waited until he was a little older to get embarrassing but he still wasn't horrible to the point of having to leave and was much easier to calm down since he could understand me.

We've been lucky...we've never had a problem with Lexie at all in restaurants. The only time we had to refrain from going restaurants with her was when she had first started to walk (16 1/2 mos), she never wanted to sit...she wanted to try out her newly found skill!

She is 23 mos. and she is very good in restaurants. I always have a spare coloring book/crayons with us, her flashcards and some of her favorite snacks. We order her own meal from a kid's menu. One of our most favorite restaurant we go to these days is to The Rain Forest Cafe. She LOVES this place. :) The interactive animals also will keep the kids occupied until the food gets to your table. :nod:

Zack is 3 months old and for the most part we don't have issues when we go out. If its going to be a bit before the food comes, I play with him and then put him back in the infant seat when the food gets here. Lots of times, because he is cute and in a happy mood, we get extra attention from the waitstaff. At one sushi place, it was really slow and the waitstaff was so enthralled with him, they kept him occupied while we ate!

Trey is 13 months, and we haven't had any problems with him at all...We haven't gone anywhere super fancy, but if we eat out, its usually to a sit down restaurant (fast food usually comes home)...He's content to sit in his highchair or on our lap and look at books or play with small noise-less toys..or just people watch :D

He sometimes gets a kids meal, depending on what we are eating. Usually a grilled cheese or some sort of pasta dish. He's not a big meat eater at all, but he loves his vegetables and french fries (he is his mother's child :lol: )

How old are your children? Kalynn is 18 months old

Do they behave or is it a disaster every time? She is for the most part well behaved.

Do you order them their own meal? She usually shares off of our plates

Anything else you would like to add? We always bring snacks and a sippy cup. I am surprised that it really isn't difficult to take her out to eat! The most she does is throw her sippy cup on the floor (I nip that in the bud REAL quick).

Emily is in a good stage right now, she is content to sit in a highchair and stuff her face with Cheerios :lol: while we eat. She is 9 months old. It was a lot easier when she was a tiny baby and would sleep through the whole thing, or just hang out in her infant seat, but it's not too bad right now either.

Previously we had only taken her to Friendly's since it is so child-friendly, but last weekend we were at my parents' and Emily enjoyed her first meal in an Indian restaurant! :lol: Of course, all she had were some bananas and Cheerios, but I guess it's good for her to get some diversity! :lol:

Matthew is 17 months old. He is really good in restaurants. He and I go out to breakfast at least once a weekend and we go out to lunch once in a while. We rarely go out to dinner. HOWEVER, I/we only take him to very family friendly places, and only when we know he will be in a good mood. I would never take him to a "nice" restaurant where he might disturb other patrons. I always bring a sippy cup and a couple of toys/ We also make sure we go to places where the food comes relatively fast. Even though he is good, he is a still a toddler!! He shares off my plate.

Janelle does ok eating out as long as we don't have to wait for more than 30-45 minutes for food. Usually we order an appetizer she will like immediatly (chips and guacomole and then ask for tortillas as well works really well for her) then we both order and adult meal. We hate the family chain restaurants just because there is no way you will convince my child to eat chicken fingers, cheese burgers, or hotdogs...but if we are somewhere nicer we usually get her pasta with lots of veggies in it with a side of veggies...

We used to take Aidan out to dinner quite a bit before the twins came along (hell if I'd take all three of them now! :eek: ) Of course, there were some times where he was overtired, teething, or too hungry and that meant disater, but really, those times were few & far between. As an infant, we'd take him anywhere and he'd be content to sit in the carseat. As a toddler, we usually went to a local brewpub or to get mexican or chinese. At the brewpub & mexican place, I would get him his own meal. When we go for chinese, we usually share and order him an extra side of rice, since he's a rice freak. He always loved going for Mexican b/c he could gorge on tortilla chips and "deeeep" (dip=guacamole) :lol:

We used to take Aidan out to dinner quite a bit before the twins came along (hell if I'd take all three of them now! :eek: )
:violin:What?? You don't want to take 3 kids under 2 out to dinner?? WIMP :rolleyes: :rotflmao:

How old are your children? Brigit is 2 1/2; Ciaran is almost 7 months.

Do they behave or is it a disaster every time? It's never been a disaster, and it's usually really fun. I just love taking the kids out to eat. The key for us is to include Brigit in all the conversation so she doesn't get bored. We did this even when she was too little to talk back and it always kept her occupied and content. Now we do the same with Ciaran too. And while we're waiting for our food we play games like "Let's find all the blue things in the room" or "Let's find all the things that start with the letter 'W'" - anything to keep them distracted.

We've made a point of taking Brigit (and now Ciaran) out to dinner about once a week since she was an infant - plus I take the kids to the bakery for coffee once a week. So they get lots of practice. Ciaran is a little less patient than Brigit was at his age, but he'll sit through a meal in our laps as long as we give him a steady stream of toys to play with.

Do you order them their own meal? Yes - Brigit always gets either a grilled cheese sandwich with fruit, or buttered noodles. She doesn't usually eat much of it but she loves giving the server her order, having her own plate and coloring on her own menu, so I think it's worth the $4.00 to give her that special treat!

Anything else you would like to add? I just recommend establishing a few (but not too many) clear rules early on and expecting the kids to stick to them. Our rules are:

1. It's OK to climb around under the table until the food arrives, but once it does everyone has to sit still in the highchair, booster seat or chair.

2. No yelling or screaming.

3. Food has to stay on the plate or bowl in which it was served.

4. No playing with the candle on the table!

Carolyn is 11 weeks old today. We have taken her out quite a few times to eat. I always nurse her beforehand but I also bring a bottle of EBM in case she gets hungry. She usually just looks around while we eat.

Kendall & Savanna are 17 months and we usually have no problems taking them out to eat. Although we have learned that certain restaurants are better than others (like what kind of highchairs they have and all that). We usually order a kids meal for them to share - like chicken strips or grilled cheese w/ a side of veggies. Once the food comes it's usually smooth sailing but sometimes can be tricky while we are waiting.

Toni