eating out

My sister and a friend and I were emailing about the pros and cons of eating at a restaurant with kiddos. I thought her description of their experiences was great. I think all parents can relate. Eating out just IS NOT the same anymore when the kids are in tow. :)

When we go out to eat (as a family of 5), usually we are going to Wahoos or Jalepenos or some restaurant that is really kid friendly and has the food ready in less than 5 minutes. The goal is to order and then stall for a few minutes, like at the drink station, or having the children go to the bathroom and wash hands. These 'tactics' delay putting C in the high chair until the food has arrived. Then we have about 15 'high chair minutes' when C will eat and sit and not be too difficult. But still, in those 15 minutes I'm scarfing my food, cutting D's chicken, getting extra napkins, cleaning up somebody's spilled drink, feeding C spoonfulls of what we've ordered (hoping he'll eat something), etc. it isn't relaxing at all. IF we are forced to go to a sit down restaurant, we order the second we are seated. Like BJs, Kelly, the second they show us to the table I say "we are ready to order" and i tell her drinks and food at the same time so we only have to wait one time. And then one of us will walk around with C outside until the food arrives. We have brought a diaper bag with toys too, but those end up on the floor or being thrown.

Ahhh, the days when going out to dinner never involved basing our decision on which restaurant would be noisy enough to cover up our kids' yells, fast enough so they won't get bored, and understanding enough if they throw a plate on the floor!