We all dream of perfect little cherubs dining politely while seated at beautiful tables with white linens and candles, but reality is often far from it. Being equipped when eating out with children can help to create a fun and memorable family night.
Timing is everything! We often decide to eat out after we've had a long and tiring day, forgetting that the children have ALSO had a long and tiring day, and, in my home at least, that means cranky and irritable children. If possible, eat out if the children are well rested and in good humor before you get to the restaurant (crowded restaurants seldom calm or cheer cranky kids). Also, try to time it so the children are eating at "their usual time" or as close as possible.
Simplify your experience before and after you eat. Pack just what you need in your diaper bag or purse, and be sure to bring what you need. I'm not sure who invented hand sanitizer or sanitizing wipes, but I am one grateful mom! Taking three preschoolers to the restroom for handwashing can quickly turn into a soapy, slippery scene. Keep hand sanitizer or wipes handy in your purse and voila! You have a headache-free way to prepare your children for dinner.
After you're served, request the check and pay before you're finished. If your children become fidgety at the end of the meal, you can make a fast exit without having to wait for receipts.
Bring Your Own "Restaurant Survival Kit." It is a good idea to have a "few tricks up your sleeve" for bored, hungry, anxious kids. Restaurant crayons and paper (if provided) aren't always enough to occupy the attention of young children. Choose a few of these items to entertain and occupy the kids while they wait.
- Snacks: If you expect a long wait for seating or food, request crackers from the waitstaff, or, better yet, bring your own. Buy a spillproof snack container (available in the Infant Sections at Target, Walmart, and specialty children’s shops). Fill it with dry cereal, granola, crackers, or fruit snacks to occupy time and keep growling stomachs quiet as you wait.
- Books: “I Spy Books” and “Look and Find Books” are excellent for restaurants, and they come in small paperback versions for easy toting. Parents aren’t required to read a story and children spend a long time looking for objects on each page. Bonus points for educational value: I Spy is an excellent mental exercise! Other good choices are comic books or paperbacks for young self-readers, and touch and feel board books for toddlers.
- Drawing and Design: The Magna Doodle is my favorite restaurant/ travel/ car/ waiting room toy of all time. Children love to draw and they can create for hours with the Magna Doodle… best of all the stylus is attached with a cord so they don’t lose it, and it doesn’t melt (a la crayons in the car on a hot day), need sharpened, or break! Children can draw pictures, play games like Hang Man and Tic Tac Toe, or write poems and stories with this quiet toy. The Etch-A-Sketch is another classic. Children spin the dials creating designs and pictures without small or messy pieces. Pipe Cleaners, Wiki Sticks, or Bendaroos all work as clean bendable toys for abstract sculpture. Give a child three pipe cleaners and watch what they create and design. Also, keep a small pad of paper and pencils in your purse as back up.
- Card Games: eeBoo’s “Tell Me A Story” Game (available at Wonderscope Children’s Museum’s Gift Shop, The Learning Tree, and other local stores). Each card shows a new story illustration and children make up tales about the pictures. Rearrange the order of the cards for a new sequence of events. Flash Cards can be great for drilling letters, numbers, states, and shapes. My favorite of all for restaurants and travel are the Brain Quest series (available at U.S. Toy and other local stores) with age appropriate trivia and games on a series of cards all connected together with a brad, so you’re not scrambling under tables for dropped or lost cards!
- Small Toys: Kid’s Meal toys, small dolls (with a bottle to feed baby), action figures, kaleidoscopes, magnifying glasses, prisms, and stuffed to work well as quiet toys. Word of caution with these: If your child likes to make Buzz Lightyear fly and zoom, or their baby doll has a tendency to “cry a lot” you might opt to leave these items at home.
- Make Up Games: The artwork and decorations in the restaurant or illustrated menus can provide many great things to find for your own custom “I Spy” game. Twenty Questions is a great back up. We like to play “Guess Who” a made up game where I list two or three attributes describing a familiar character and my girls try to guess who it is. If your children don’t know many characters or that seems to easy, do the same thing to describe objects or foods. Another family favorite is, “A Cherry on Top Game.” I start by saying “I love you plus a Cherry on top.” The next person says, “I love you plus a cherry on top PLUS a (fill in the blank).” The next person repeats the list and adds one item. You continue to go around adding to the list until someone cannot remember everything on the list in order.
Criteria for a great restaurant toy:
- Something Quiet
- Something that is not messy
- Toys with Few Pieces and Parts (according to the age and responsibility of the child)
- Toys that hold attention for long periods of time, Small things that can easily be slipped into a purse, pocket, or diaper bag.
- Something Novel (reserving a toy for "restaurants" or "car travel" only will help hold your child's interest as the toy will be new and fresh).
One more tip: before you head out to eat check the Kansas City Kids' Eat Free Guide for great deals and discounts!