We love eating out and when we eat out it’s usually always in a pack of five people- that’s me, sis, my daughter Ykaie, Cyra, and Cyvrine. These kids love running around and being nosey, just like all kids.Sometimes choosing a place to eat can be tricky because not all restaurants are child-friendly.
Kids are kids and there’s nothing we can do to change that but there are some things you can do to make sure they behave well.
- Before going to a restaurant, make sure there is something on the menu that they will like. That’s fried chicken, pizza, or fried pork chops in our case, if we go to a restaurant that doesn’t have the food they want, they would refuse to eat and get bored while waiting for us to finish our meal. The tendency is for them to play around.
- Opt to be seated in a booth whenever possible. Yes, this is to keep your child contained and keep them from running around.
- Bring “restaurant-only-toys”. Most of the time, kids finish their meals first. Keep them busy by bringing coloring books, small toys, or tablets (which is common nowadays) which they can play either while waiting for food to be served or after meals. This is to keep them from running around and disrupting other diners.
- Visit the restaurant during off-peak times.
- Make sure you catch your kids behaving well. Point out how great they’re doing staying seated, being polite to the waiter, and trying new foods. This will encourage them to be on their best behavior.
Those are just some of the things I learned over the years and time and time again eating out with these three girls. Cyvrine is the hardest to contain but she’s getting there. These photos are take one time I was craving for Kare-Kare and we passed by Cabalen. I saw a photo of Kare-kare and we just had to stop and eat there.
The waitress was kind enough to charge us for only two adults and one child. The kids didn’t really eat that much food and went only for the dessert.
nice tips! I brought coloring books and crayons and ipad:) most of the time, we opt for a restaurant that had a special place for kids to play.
Thanks genjosh!
I heard a lot of good things about Cabalen but unfortunately haven’t tried dining there yet.
You should try it sometime, Garf.
I can fully understand about eating out with a kid or kids. When our first child was born, we didn’t even go out to eat at all because it was just not happening. It was terrible and ends up not enjoying our meal let alone finishing it. No matter how much toys he had he just wasn’t going to sit. When he got a bit older and our girl was born, we started going out again to eat and he is more calmer and would eat his food. WE always make sure that the restaurant offers food that we know our boy would eat. No problem with the girl because she is a food-lover, but this boy is one picky kid. Anyway, the restaurant looks like a good place to dine in. Cutie kids!
Thanks Adin!
Restaurants here usually hands out coloring papers and crayons.
Dito din but I want to bring in extra stuff to make them busy…
I’ll take note of your tips. Sometimes, kids misbehave and it’s hard to put them to sit and let them stay in one place for few minutes.
So true! Thanks Kaye!
Great tips indeed! Usually restaurants here in the United States, they pamper kids with coloring papers and crayons to keep the kids occupied while waiting for their food. They also have menu for kids.
http://www.beautyisintheeyeoftheb.com/?p=5058
Thanks Jheylo!