Meals out

The other thread about dinner got me thinking . Do u go out to dinner with your kid/a? And if so how old are they and do they last sitting for a whole meal?

DS1 is 3 in January and prob ever since he could walk we avoid going to dinner out. It's honestly too difficult. He wants to check everything out and wall around and gets bored - I'm just curious at what age kids can last a meal without wondering around or if we just need to be stricter.

We did recently to out for "entree" and then took the mains home. I was the perfect amountof time for DS ( who we did have the iPad for)!

Any advice would also be great!

My DS was terrible to take out until probably around the 3 year mark. We just didn't go out for dinner. By the time he was 4 I know we went out for tea sometimes and I remember it was easier then with all three children than it was with just the one toddler.

My girls were completely different and were always fine to take to cafes/restaurants. I have a friend with a son turning 3 in Jan as well and she won't even go out for a quick coffee because her boy is such hard work out and about.

Both our boys are still really difficult to take out for any length of time TBH, as they're just so active.

We've tried taking books and games, letting them play games on the iPhones, doing stories, and other things, but really, since they've been walking, it's just not very doable.

UNLESS we go somewhere with a playground - which works out fine.

Otherwise, half an hour really is about all it's good for, unless we're happy with them being active little boys - wanting to walk, wriggle, play, explore, investigate, introduce themselves to anything with (or without ....) a pulse, and other stuff - which is a-ok in many contexts, but often not in a restaurant.

I've seen other friends very successfully have their toddlers at the table, but they're generally the kind of kids who will quite happily sit and draw or look at books, or watch Octonauts on the iThing etc. Our kids are just way too active for much of that.

So we go to kid friendly places (where a mess on the floor is ok, and a playground is present) or we go when we can get a babysitter!

DD1 has always been fine to take out to restaurants, even when she was tiny.
My other 2 however, are too full of energy. I just couldn't put other diners through it. If we only have 1 often we'll take that child out for lunch, but then they have the focus of both parents.
Actually now that I say that a GF and I often take DD2 (2.75) out for a meal and she's pretty good until right near the end. We sit in a corner and both of us have bits and pieces in our bags. It helps that DD2 lives to eat lol, so new foods are exciting for her.

Dinner however is a different kettle of fish. My kids are really tired by dinner time and expecting them to hold it all together is unreasonable if you ask me. Find somewhere where they can run around. Two of our local clubs have great playgrounds, and that's where we (and all our friends with kids) tend to go.

That said, my parents loved restaurants and we went often as children. If they are exposed and it becomes normal, then they get better at it.

Lol it's reassuring to know it's normal! He is def getting better - i took him to brunch on the weekend to a coffee house that had a playground and he played and sat and ate and had his milkshake and then played some more.

One thin I worry about is that if we do to out it tends to be with my in laws and my mil tends to encourage him to wander around cuz then she gets to walk a round with him on her own (she always try's to get DS alone in any situation) and never says no DS we are sitting for a while - we can get up and play soon kinda thing... I think some sitting still should be expected but I'm talking 10mins or so lol.

We take our girls out a lot, and always have. Currently they are 7yrs, 5yrs, and 2yrs. They have grown up going out and they know the rules, and they know the bonuses they get when we go out, and have learnt not to jepordise those bonuses (choosing their own meals, a milkshake or special kids drink, maybe dessert etc).
That been said, they have their days when we know they can't handle going out, so we don't.

Spock is absolutely amazing to take out to tea. We often go out to a coffee shop and have a milk shake and she will sit there and chat away with you and have her drink etc. I do take her to ones with toys, and she will happily play with the toys while we wait for our order.
We go out probably once a fortnight for pizza, and she is fantastic, sits at the table eats, chats, etc... In the last month for so she has been choosing to sit in the 'big girls chair' instead of a high chair, and will still stay seated etc...
I have had compliments from staff about how fantastic she is, and how they would never dream of bringing their child out. I guess because it's just something we always did, eg we never avoided it its just normal for her... Not that we eat out really often due to financial reasons. But restaurants are 30 mins away here, so by time you get take away, being it home it is too cold to eat so we just always eat in

My two dd's are similar to yours beansbeans and tt40.

I think because we always have dinner at the table together at home they have to sit there quietly then, so they seem to do the same when we are out. Dd2 is probably th exist difficult at the moment at 9 months because she is finding her voice so can get quite loud, but she is generally fairly easily distracted. I also find that because we are (were) the only ones with kids out of our friends, when we go out they all want to hold the baby anyways so that helps me :)

I find loud restaurants the best bet for us :) then at least dd2 is drowned out and doesn't bother anyone else.

My parents have their 50th wedding anniversary soon and plan to have dinner out with us all including the grandkids.
They go out often with my sons girls who are both at school so can't see why our 3yo might not be great going out at night and then being expected to sit still and behave when he's tired.
That said we eat out often but regularly we go to lunch at kid friendly places not so much out for dinner.
We have been practising and he gets that he has to sit at the table but he's NOISY!!!!
I am not looking forward to this dinner out as my other brother who is not kid oriented at all is choosing the restaurant and my parents seem to forget how 3 yo's can be and keep telling me it'll be fine 'cause "the girls" are great at eating out (yeah they are 4 yrs older too!)
Our DS doesn't really get involved in colouring (prefers to paint) and would want books read to him. We don't really do the iThing thing so we'll just have to cope..............arrggghhh

DS had his first meal out before he was a month old. He slept through it all! I do take him out to cafés and the odd restaurant for a meal, always expected him to sit and chat to me and unless it was a very long wait (ie over 20 mins) as a preschooler, he managed it. He is very active, but he knows what's expected in different situations. We go to child friendly places as well as grown up places and he enjoys the adult environment more now he is that bit older (age 7).

I do keep my phone, the kindle, colours, paper etc in my bag which helps somewhat. Most other adults love that he sits and reads or does maths while waiting for his food.

What about picnics outside? We do take our 13 month old to restaurants and make sure he's in a high chair with food or toys to occupy him. Mostly quick dinners. We make sure he has some 'excercise' beforehand, walk, play in playground so he can sit for a bit.
I prefer going out for home made picnics out in nice parks, on the beach. So it's ok for him to roam about while we eat. Also sometimes get pizza or fish n chips and have it as a picnic!

We go to kid-freindly restaurants. Places with a play area, or a little climbing area outside. We have lots of clubs around us and most of the have a toy area or area outside to play. I also bring favourite small toys (like cars/mini dolls) or colouring in and when desperate (only if other people are obviously annoyed by them, or they're annoying me/DH), give them my phone to play on to help keep the kids entertained.

I always ask for their meals to come as quickly as possible. They know they need to sit to eat, and then they get to go and play. We only go to places we can eat at early, before 6pm, because they go to bed at 7.30pm and would be over it all if we went later. You just need to understand their limits, and do what you can to try to prevent any undesirable behaviours.

Lots of people are tolerant of young children being noisy. They get it.