We go out to eat a lot. Well, probably not a lot compared to some, but more than I think we should. I remember my parents saying there came a time when they both said enough was enough and they attest to a few years going by until they were ready to take the plunge again. We’re not ready to call it quits just yet. I mean these pancakes we’ve been eating at the diner down the street are so damn fluffy and the way the butter melts perfectly into each and every morsel is damn near good enough to put the kids at the their own table and pretend like we don’t know who they are or where they came from. Point being: it’s not easy, but we put up with it.
Hooper’s into this new random yelling thing. It’s not acting out so much as it is a reaction to whatever is going on around him. When things are wild, he likes to jump in on the action and yell. He can yell all he wants; it doesn’t change the taste of my pancakes.
Knowing the day will soon come when we’ll be labeled lunatics for trying to bring our children out to a restaurant makes me savior those pancakes even more.
Are you able to bring your kiddos out to restaurants?
Ya, no. Granted he’s only 8 months, but Lane won’t sit still in a highchair, in my arms, not even for a second anymore. After five minutes of warming up to his surroundings, he’s climbing all over the place. We’ve gotten mighty fond of to-go.
We rarely eat out with the kids, but it’s a goal of mine to be able to, so we sneak it in sometimes, just to stretch ourselves. If we do eat out, it’s normally at a place that has outdoor dining or we go after the breakfast/lunch/dinner rush is over, so if the kids do act up, there’s few witnesses. haha!
Seems like it takes a lot of work to eat out with the little ones. I commend you. Plus, I like eating out with you guys, so I hope you keep it up for a while. Getting food to-go sounds like a fair enough option. You could eat on in the backyard on a summer morning…pancakes and all.
I guess since I was a single mom for so long my daughter knew I didn’t play around and she knew my expectations of her behavior…..plus with no one else around to help or for her to stay home with she came with me EVERYWHERE and acted like a little adult. We traveled more in those nearly 5 years than some do in 20.
Now that she is nearly 7 and my Little Man is 1 it takes a bit more planning on mine and my husband’s part but we still go and do just the same. My friends who have kids close in age (our next boy is due in 10 wks! eek) seem exhausted when they go out. Luckily my husband and I have a little redhead we can tag in to the ring and help entertain her brother, soon to be brothers, which makes it all pretty easy.
For the most part, I don’t find going out to eat with my kids relaxing at all. There are the random times when they act like angels and I wonder who’s kids they are, but mostly, they are little food throwing, water spilling, shrieking, wiggle worms. I find eating outside helps because I feel less guilty about the mess they make and they are distracted with all that is going on around them.
I think having children that behave when they eat out is so important. In France they just do it as a matter of course and the children are expected to behave… and they do. Likewise, in Greece children stay out in restaurants from being babies and it’s considered normal. I think it’s just in some societies where children are overprotected that they don’t learn to be part of the community from a young age that they play up. Of course, this is all just opinion and conjecture!
Going out to eat used to be much more simple before my son turned one. We still go out to eat now, but we typically choose loud restaurants with lots of background chatter so that if he’s throwing a fit it’s not so noticeable. Oh, and we eat really fast.. ha.
With Tamika I was a single Mum, so she came everywhere with me. I would pack her a backpack filled with distractions (books, barbies, and food) and she always behaved. Justin and I still go out often with Jarvis, we find as long as we go out by 6pm and are home by 8:30pm as a rule Jarvis is well behaved. Oh and in regards to the random screaming thing, Jarvis has taken a liking to screaming Dad at the top of his lungs where ever we go.
I eat out with my daughter at least once a week, she’s 22 months old and she’s been stuck in an excited yelling phase since she learned to vocalize. She’s generally well behaved once actually eating, but the gal loves food and hates waiting for it (takes after her Ma).