Restaurant Manners: How to Enjoy Eating Out with Kids

Flying food, “musical chairs”, loud outside voices, and crying. You’re not alone if these things make you worry about bringing the kids along to the restaurant! Chasing your kids around or reminding them to use their inside voices can take all of the joy out of dining. Prepare ahead of time to make mealtimes easier at restaurants and at home.

Teaching your child good manners and the behavior expected at a restaurant isn’t hard. It’s best to start early at home.

Be Prepared

• Have a trial meal at a fast food or casual kid-friendly restaurant first as a rehearsal
• Check the menu first to make sure they serve something your child will eat
• Head over early to avoid the rush and long waiting periods (make a reservation, if possible)
• Bring toys or books to occupy your child while waiting

Teaching Children Good Manners

• Practice ahead of time
• Demonstrate good manners at the dinner table at home
• Play pretend restaurant or have a tea party with their stuffed animals and dolls
• Stick to a few basic rules
• We stay in our seats
• No “see”-food. We chew with our mouths closed and don’t talk when chewing
• We don’t play with our food
• Follow through
• Offer a reward if they behave. It can be as simple as praise or dessert after dinner.
• If they don’t behave, enforce the consequences (loss of dessert, leaving the restaurant…)

Limit Your Toddler’s Frustration

If your toddler is learning how to feed herself, getting the food on the fork and into her mouth can be hard. Don’t let this struggle put a damper on an otherwise smooth dining experience.

Bring silverware from home that’s easy to use. A curved shape and the built-up handles of EasieEaters Curved Utensils are perfect for little hands. The angled spoon and fork increase the odds of your daughter getting the food into her mouth.

Is picking the food up onto the utensil the problem? Try a Scooper Plate with Suction Cup Base. The high edge makes it easier for your son to get food onto his silverware. Secure the dish in place with the suction cup to help prevent spills.

A fine dining restaurant might not have the same kid’s cups as a family-friendly restaurant. Bring your own to prevent spills or glass breakage. This Cup with a Built-In Straw is a fun choice that’s easy for kids to hold.

Quiet Toys to Bring to Restaurants

Restaurants involve a lot of waiting. It can be hard for kids to sit patiently for a table, for food, and for everyone else to finish. Coloring and books are old standbys, but new toys can often capture and hold your child’s attention better.

For Toddlers and Preschoolers

One fun toy to play with at a restaurant is putty. Kids of all ages love to squish, pull, twist, and shape it. Increase the amusement with Sammons Preston Glitter Putty or Sammons Preston Color Changing Putty. The 2oz. containers are great to pack in a purse and pull out at the restaurant. Plus putty builds fine motor skills, the same ones used to manipulate silverware, so your toddler is also learning valuable skills used during self-feeding.

Crystal bead balls also offer fun tactile play. Your toddler can squeeze the ball or gently roll it to you across the table before the food arrives.

For Elementary and Older Children

Pen and paper or question games can help pass the time. For example, tic-tac-toe, hangman, the dot game, rock-paper-scissors, and I Spy are common games.

Try one of these games that don’t require any tools:

• “Would you rather?”
• These questions spark conversation and let your kids give their opinion. Try questions like: Would you rather eat chocolate ice cream or strawberry? Live somewhere that was always hot or always cold? Play in a pool full of jello or marshmallows?
• “I’m on my way to grandma’s house and I’m taking with me a…”
• The first person says the phrase and something that starts with the letter A. The next person says the phrase, the letter A word, and adds a word that starts with B. Continue through the alphabet or until someone can’t remember the list.
• The Category Game
• Choose a category like “movies”. The first person can pick any movie, like “Cinderella”. The next person needs to think of a movie that starts with the last letter of the previous movie, in this case A. The person could say “Aladdin”, “Alice in Wonderland” or any other A movie, determining the starting letter of the next word. Play until you get stuck (no repeating allowed) or want to choose another category.

Eating at a restaurant can be stressful, but preparation helps. Practice at home, use dishes and cutlery that reduce your toddler’s frustration, and bring along toys or games for distraction while waiting. Dining out can be fun and teach your kids proper manners in a restaurant at the same time.

References
Arthurs, D. (2011). Unruly kids offered etiquette lessons as one in five families admits they are too embarrassed to eat in restaurants. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://dailym.ai/2UDLVwK

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