How to Survive Dining Out with a Toddler

After becoming a parent, spontaneous restaurant dining becomes a thing of the past. Requiring much planning, and little room for error, it takes a lot to get even the smallest trip to the local grocery store or restaurant right. Embarrassing moments can make parents fear any type of outing, and before you know it, fast food restaurants become a luxury. Avoiding fancy restaurants and sticking to children's restaurants is an all too familiar feeling for a lot of parents throughout America, and because I know the feeling, I am going to share with you tips and tricks on how to survive dinner out.

Being a mother of two children, a three year old daughter and a two month old son, going out into the world has almost become a war time mission. Quite honestly, I have become an expert at thoroughly planning diaper changes, bottle requests, and major meltdowns in public. As embarrassing as they can be, I would do anything to avoid them, and this is how I do it.

One of the biggest suggestions I have for a parent dealing with the terrible twos, or threes, fours and fives, is to prepare. Preparation is truly everything. If you take note of the majority of the tantrums, and why they're happening, you'll truly find some insight into how to prevent them. For example, upon going into a favorite local restaurant of ours, it became blatantly obvious that my daughter was not going to cooperate. We all know how long it takes for food to arrive after ordering, and patience is something that children lack completely.
My daughter would have major meltdowns before the food even arrived, creating an extremely unpleasant situation. We realized quickly that pointing out our facial features over and over would lose her attention, and fast. So, we got clever.

I decided that I would create a special bag for her. A bag that only went with us when we were going to restaurants. Remember, children lose interest quickly, and we don't want them to have the bag at all times and not see it as something special. Use it only for restaurants. I packed her bag with artistic tools, such as crayons, paper, coloring books, and reading materials. Although she is not able to read, it was a good idea to bring regular books, as we could read them to her, and ask her to point out things throughout the pages. If your child gets bored with certain things easily, plan it out thoroughly. Set one evening a week that you're going to dedicate to a special restaurant. Even consider a new restaurant each week. Not only will this give you a chance to experience new places, but it will give your child new surroundings for them to explore visually. Each week, go to your local store and by cheap, yet effective things. Replace the old with new, and keep refreshing the excitement of "the restaurant bag".

For my daughter personally, she requires a nap daily, or quite frankly, she can be a little terror. A lot of kids are the same way, and so this is where planning comes in. Make sure that you take them for dinner after their nap, yet far before bedtime. This will avoid the crankiness associated with being tired. If your child is hungry, don't bring them to the restaurant starving. This is a recipe for disaster, literally! Bring healthy, yet small snacks to the restaurant with you. Don't be afraid to pack light fruit, jello, or raisins. Your child will continue to be hungry, yet satisfied, which equals a good mood! Also, you'll need to remember a beverage. It's a good idea to pick up a special cup for restaurants. It can be a character cup, or a cup that lights up and holds their attention.

To avoid embarrassment, request a seat towards the back of the restaurant, or near a window. If there is a tantrum, and we all know that sometimes it's unavoidable, you won't be so close to other diners and you can handle it without several people staring at you. Besides, a window is another option to keep your child interested. Point our cars, colors, landscaping and clouds. The trick is to be clever, creative, and prepared.

As with any other task in life, the key is to be prepared for anything. With a little creativity, and a little planning, even you can get through a nice evening dinner.