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3 Ground Rules for Eating Out With Kids
Just so you know I’m not out to win any culture war between urban parents and their counterparts who don’t have kids — I’d prefer a truce, a mutual understanding — I’ll pass along a few links that may be of use to parents who take their kids to restaurants (and bars).
Francis Lam at Salon interviews food critic Robert Sietsema (who is very much in favor of eating out with (certain) kids) and directs us to Fat City’s Jonathan Bender who give us a thorough round-up and includes these ground rules, which he summarizes thusly: think of pool rules.
5 to 6 p.m. is open swim. Translation: if you’re eating out with kids, go early.
No running allowed: trips to the bathroom are fine, but stay at the table and stay seated.
Three whistles, clear the pool: three strikes (you decide as a family what constitutes strikes) and you’re out of there.
In my family, we’d have to add the rule about lowering our voices (we’re kind of loud talkers) and to not fight over the last piece in the bread basket. But we manage. Very few actual scenes in the 9 years we’ve been eating out as a family.
Also, we’d never dream of demanding that restaurants provide a kids menu. That and allowing kids to go up to another party’s table to chat is just obnoxious.
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[...] Babble’s take on the ongoing debate about eating out with your kids. [...]
Eating out with kids | meghan b. kelly commented on May 18 10 at 8:24 pm[...] 3 Ground Rules for Eating Out with Kids [...]
C-Section and Celiac -- Linked? | Strollerderby commented on May 19 10 at 1:51 pmgoddess commented on May 18 10 at 5:33 pmI wholeheartedly agree with EVERYTHING you said (especially the running, leaving the table and approaching other diners, except….we do not go out to eat at 5, never did, never will. We also didn’t take the kids until we were reasonably sure they’d behave in their seats, and without electronic devices. Only had one time I didn’t like my youngest’s attitude and had to take him out to the car for an attitude re-adjustment. That said, we won’t be following assigned eating times, TYVM ;-)
FakeGP commented on May 18 10 at 6:09 pmJust like to add that cleaning up the mess under the table after your child always seems to be welcomed by the restaurant staff.
PlumbLucky commented on May 19 10 at 10:41 amOur definition of early is currently determined by whether the establishment has a liquor license or not, seriously. If it does, we head out earlier. Doesn’t? Slightly later in comparison (i.e. closer to our normal dinner hour of 6:30).
mommyK commented on May 19 10 at 11:26 amI think picking the right place is the most important. Our usual way to unwind on Fridays is to hit a small family owned Mexican restaurant with other parents. The parents chill with their drinks, and the kids sit/ climb at the bar where the staff knows them, serves them up Sprite shooters, helps practice their spanish, and watches futbol with them. It cracks me up when grouchy types wander in and sneer at us and our kids. We just ignore them, and the staff knows who the big tippers are. Would we do this at an elegant restaurant? No. But we were here first.
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