I have decided to do a short series entitled Rules of Survival - my top 5 tips for stress free events with small people based on my own experiences.
Rules of Survival - Eating Out
1) Choose a child friendly venue.
One with a child friendly menu, food that your child will eat!
There is no point taking your curry hating small person to an Indian restaurant, Or your 'allergic to cheese' monkey for pizza.
You might miss the days when you visited that lovely little bistro with the fancy food but save it for when you have a babysitter!
2) Time your visit
I know that lots of children will eat whenever they want but some children, like mine, have very set meal times and eating outside these (early or late) will cause catastrophic meltdown. Also factor in how long it takes you to order and have food delivered to your table. We made this classic mistake when we entered a well known family family restaurant at lunch time. 40 minutes later when food arrived at our table the kids were past eating it and thus the whole experience included wasted food, unhappy kids and stressed out parents.
I know that some fast food places are not the nicest of places to eat (nor the healthiest) but they can be quick and sometimes speed is of the essence.
3) Food Ordering
We always try to give a choice but we always limit the options to those we know that the children will eat. Yes, there is a a discussion about them trying new things but is a restaurant the place to dump a whole new meal in front of them? Just in case they don't like it. I always let them try what I ham having but their meals are always primarily foods that they like and will enjoy,
I really hate seeing wasted food.
On the other side of that coin if your small person is not eating something that they like ask why and taste their food! Smallest once refused to eat pasta, something she usually eats happily. I worked through everything that could be wrong and, as a last resort, tried it - awful! So bad, in fact, that I sent it back and demanded my money back whilst she ate mine.
4) Entertainment
A bored child is never a funny thing when they are chained to their seat.
Like the best Boy Scout - be prepared. I always take a bag with pencils and paper or colouring books. I have a couple of child friend apps on my mobile phone and tablet which I try to have with me.
Never, ever reply on the child friendly 'we provide a colouring pack' restaurant to actually do so. Too many times they have run out!
I try to avoid I spy - experience says that it can irritate other diners especially if they become the subject of the game. I also try to avoid anything with wheels as they tend to end up either on the floor or being used to scatter everything else on the table onto the floor.
5) Leave when you are done!
You might want to sit and chat, let your dinner go down and enjoy finishing your drinks. Your kids have had enough and want to go and do something else! The only exception to this is those places where a soft play centre is attached and whilst you can allow them to run riot for a bit (praying that projectile vomiting is not going to be result) you do have to supervise them and you may have to enter the abyss.
My experiences include having to close the ball pool down whilst I search for oldest's hearing aid which any child had pulled out of his ear and thrown. Without going into the detail of what I may or may not have come into contact in their I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was one of the most disgusting moments of my existence.
