Kids eating alone in Dining Rooms

[Ourtwoprincesses]

DH and I have dinner reservations at Palo's at 7:00 on a Monday night of our cruise. We are signed up for late dining. Do you think it will be okay for our kids to go eat dinner together at our assigned dining room that night? They are ages 13 and 8, but very well behaved and very good. We were going to leave them in the kids club while we are at Palo's but we signed my oldest daughter permission to sign herself out and permission for her to check in and sign out her younger sister out of the kids club. So I was going to have my oldest DD sign out her sister and they can walk together to the dining room and eat. I am sure we will be there then by the time they finish. I also think that night is the Disney Princess show of some sort, so we can go there and then leave them to watch the rest of the show and then they can walk together to the dining room when it is done. They both get along together real good, and if for some reason they don't, I can always threaten to put them in the nursery They have been on 2 Disney cruises and on the last one my oldest DD was allowed to sign herself in and out and she did great with it.

 

[PPFQP]

Yes! We did this a couple of years ago. Let your servers know and they will treat them like royalty.

 

[jbm02]

Why not see how the cruise is going and play it by ear? On our last (and first!) DCL cruise, we planned to have the kids (DS 12, DD 7) eat in the Clubs for the evening of our Palo reservations. We also had late dining. Our servers, who were awesome and really took the time to get to know the kids, urged us to have the kids do dinner on their own in the restaurant. And you know what? They really loved the idea of going to dinner by themselves and thinking they were the 'adults" at the table. They did great and they still talk about it. (By the way, we coordinated everything with our wonderful servers, they knew our reservation time - and our servers even spoke to our Palo servers so they knew that we had novice diners downstairs- and I took a break from dinner to run down and check on them...) Plus, we made friends with the family of 8 at the next table over from us and they assured us they'd keep an eye out too...and we did the same for them the next night. Our servers even laughingly told us how much more "formal" the kids acted at dinner - my DS even held a chair out for my DD. OMG. Where did that come from???
It might make a difference to you based on your tablemates. initially, we were disappointed that we had a 4 person table so had no one to meet at dinner (I like to talk..to my DH's chagrin! ). But that worked out for the better for us in this situation since we didn't worry about the unchaperoned kids ruining their meal.
This was a totally new experience for me. I never even considered letting the kids go off to a restaurant on their own before! Especially the 7 year old. But the 12 year old took the responsibility very seriously. And the 7 yo was so excited to be thought of as a grown up that she worked extra hard for the privilege. They have already asked if they can do it again this cruise. I have no qualms about it on the issue of the kids being able to comport themselves but want to wait and see who we're sitting with.
Maybe this was too long an answer but I really struggled with this question last time (how does a mom send her kids to eat by themselves??! Bad mommy enjoying a date while the kids are alone! You know what I mean). So I understand your issues. We elected to give the kids a chance at more responsibility and it worked for us. (and hopefully, I won't be flamed for making that choice from other DISers...!!)
Whatever you decide will be the right one for you.

 

[miztigg]

as long as you feel that your 13 yr old can handle it go for it!!! I would let my 13yr old DS do it not so sure id let him take the twins the 1 is a handful enjoy palos

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

My children now 13 and 10 have done this on the last three DCL cruises I book Palo dinner near the end of the cruise so they know the servers by then.

It works well, I give my kids charging authority on their cards but tell the servers is for smoothies only.

Care. tell the servers as I know they have lists who has palo booking and might assume you will not use your table and allocate it to others.

 

[MassDisLovers]

We've always done it, since our first DCL cruise. The servers know to expect this so that parents can enjoy Palo, and they give a little extra attention to the table that night. The kids really like it, too. This is DISNEY...... they want you to be happy, and Palo makes adults happy. Enjoy!

 

[Tneah]

Yes, they can. We told our servers that we would be at Palo the next night, so we (meaning as in family) would not be there for dinner. He said it was totally fine to have the children eat without the parents present. My kids didn't go the next night, but I just wanted you to know that they could have.

 

[lbgraves]

Yes at that age the kids will be fine. We did the same thing along with the 12 yo DD of our friends when we went to Palo and the 3rd family at the table were in the dining room that night. It was one of the formal nights, as we didn't know the schedule for the 15 day cruise, and they did fine.

There was a report on here over the summer that a large table with many young kids had their kids go to dinner alone in PC one night while they were at Palo. That did not go so well. The kids were completely unruly breaking the salt and pepper shakers and even throwing food at other guests, at least one table left the dinning room because of them. The DISer who posted it was "nominated" to go to Palo to find the parents, who had the attitude of "so what." Of course sailing a few cruises after that all of the DISers were prepared with extra duct tape on the repo.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

There was a report on here over the summer that a large table with many young kids had their kids go to dinner alone in PC one night while they were at Palo. That did not go so well. The kids were completely unruly breaking the salt and pepper shakers and even throwing food at other guests, at least one table left the dinning room because of them. The DISer who posted it was "nominated" to go to Palo to find the parents, who had the attitude of "so what." Of course sailing a few cruises after that all of the DISers were prepared with extra duct tape on the repo.

This is awful! I'd be absolutely mortified to have someone come to tell me my kids were behaving so badly that others would leave the dining room. I think I'd choke on my food! Their nonchalant attitude of not caring about their kids' behavior is probably the reason they were so bad. At least I like to think so.

On our Nov TG cruise there were boys left alone in the WD Theater 2-3 rows in front of us. We were very early and theater was just starting to fill and we had an easy view of them poking each other, wrestling, etc. Their older sister sat between them to break it up but then moved away from them down the row and they started up again. I take advantage of these moments to point out to my boys how NOT to act when unsupervised. Luckily, they stopped once the show started but I was a bit worried at first.

 

[wwwosie]

We just talked about this at Breakfast today! My DD is 12 and DS is 18 and we are probably going to let them eat by themselves one night. They actually have done this at home a couple of times, gone out just the two of them for dinner when DH an I were out.

 

[yazee1]

I will add that we also allowed our older two to dine without us once. They were 9 and 11 at the time. Like your children, they had cruised before, they had proven to be trustworthy prior to that occasion, and we were confident that they could handle themselves. There was only the minimal amount of uncertainty since we didn't want our tablemates to feel somehow responsible for our kids, so we discussed it with them ahead of time. It went very well. I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall.

 

[kjd469]

On our past 7 night cruise, our family of 5 was paired with a family of 3..mother, father and son who was 10. "Sam" was a very odd child, and extremely picky, etc. One night we showed up for dinner and this family showed up, Dad says to us "You don't mind if "Sam" joins you for dinner alone, do you?" and then turns and he and his wife head off to Palo. We had no choice since he didn't wait for our answer. Well, "Sam" had difficulty picking his meal, eating his meal, etc....and we weren't too impressed. Then when we were finished, he got up from the table with our family and stayed with us until the appointed time he had arranged to meet his parents. We felt very put-upon and thought it was rude. I'm sure his parents thought he was perfectly fine to dine alone and would have been shocked to hear that we were uncomfortable with having him there. My point is, make sure that your fellow dinner companions really are comfortable having your kids, unaccompanied, at the dinner table...and that they don't feel "responsible" for your children also.

 

[jajomo0118]

On our past 7 night cruise, our family of 5 was paired with a family of 3..mother, father and son who was 10. "Sam" was a very odd child, and extremely picky, etc. One night we showed up for dinner and this family showed up, Dad says to us "You don't mind if "Sam" joins you for dinner alone, do you?" and then turns and he and his wife head off to Palo. We had no choice since he didn't wait for our answer. Well, "Sam" had difficulty picking his meal, eating his meal, etc....and we weren't too impressed. Then when we were finished, he got up from the table with our family and stayed with us until the appointed time he had arranged to meet his parents. We felt very put-upon and thought it was rude. I'm sure his parents thought he was perfectly fine to dine alone and would have been shocked to hear that we were uncomfortable with having him there. My point is, make sure that your fellow dinner companions really are comfortable having your kids, unaccompanied, at the dinner table...and that they don't feel "responsible" for your children also.

That is horrible....I'm speechless that they could impose on strangers!!!!

 

[yazee1]

On our past 7 night cruise, our family of 5 was paired with a family of 3..mother, father and son who was 10. "Sam" was a very odd child, and extremely picky, etc. One night we showed up for dinner and this family showed up, Dad says to us "You don't mind if "Sam" joins you for dinner alone, do you?" and then turns and he and his wife head off to Palo. We had no choice since he didn't wait for our answer. Well, "Sam" had difficulty picking his meal, eating his meal, etc....and we weren't too impressed. Then when we were finished, he got up from the table with our family and stayed with us until the appointed time he had arranged to meet his parents. We felt very put-upon and thought it was rude. I'm sure his parents thought he was perfectly fine to dine alone and would have been shocked to hear that we were uncomfortable with having him there. My point is, make sure that your fellow dinner companions really are comfortable having your kids, unaccompanied, at the dinner table...and that they don't feel "responsible" for your children also.

This is one of the scenarios -having the kid "dumped" on you- I was imagining when I read the OP's question. That's a shame. Why do you think his parents were under the mistaken assumption that he would be fine? Did he seem to know how to conduct himself with the wait staff before this incident?

I'm assuming you dined with all three of the family members the next evening. Did the parents ask you how it went? If we found out that our children made our tablemates uncomfortable and that our assumption that they were able to conduct themselves properly was wrong, we would have been offering a thousand apologies and would have ordered a gift delivered to their room.

Good point about making sure your tablemates are comfortable with the children coming to dinner unescorted by an adult.

 

[MelissaE1]

Sounds like your kids will be fine. We just got off the Magic this morning and my kids, DS14 and DD10 ate in the dining room alone while we went to Palo. Like your kids, they are well behaved in public. In fact, our servers were responsible for our table of four and two large group tables, and the next night we had people from both groups approach us and comment on how well behaved our children were while we were gone.

Now if I could just figure out how to get them to act that way at home...

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Sounds like your kids will be fine. We just got off the Magic this morning and my kids, DS14 and DD10 ate in the dining room alone while we went to Palo. Like your kids, they are well behaved in public. In fact, our servers were responsible for our table of four and two large group tables, and the next night we had people from both groups approach us and comment on how well behaved our children were while we were gone.

Now if I could just figure out how to get them to act that way at home...

Well, home is a place to unwind and drop the formalities right? The important thing is that they're well behaved in public even when they're unsupervised.

 

[cindy18]

I'm with Melissa on this. We ate at Palo on the 4th night of the Western this past week and our two DDs (13 and 11), who had originally planned to have room service dinner, were encouraged by our servers to come and eat dinner with them. We were at Lumieres that evening, and the girls said it was really fun. I think they were given a lot of puzzles to work through and of course extra desserts! It was the first time the two of them had ever eaten "out" alone, and I think most kids really do rise to the occasion for an experience like that.

 

[Elphie&Me]

OK, since just about everyone is saying go for it, I will play the bad guy for the other side.

To the woman who's one "kid" is 18, I see no reason why they can't be responsible for a younger sibling. Technically that's one adult and one child. Shy of that I personally feel it's an unfair burden on the wait staff and the other guests. Now if there are table mates involved that really can be unfair to them as well.

Now I am just putting my own personal opinion out there. Only because the other side hasn't said anything yet. (I know I'm not alone, but I bet everyone is too chicken to say they don't like the idea) I'm so sure you all out number me on this, that I am not even going to read the replies. But it's just the opinion of someone who would prefer not to dine in a room with unsupervised children. No Zero Zip Refelection on any one particular child, parent, or family on this board. Just the feelings of an adult without children.

Just my thoughts at this moment. No drama please. LOL.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

I have an "only" so this would never happen to me. And maybe because she's an "only" that I couldn't imagine sending the kids to dinner by themselves. There was one kid at Topsiders one night that was eating all by his lonesome. I have no idea why. Maybe he wanted to. DH and I felt so bad. But that's just my 2 cents.

I think if your kids are well behaved and WANT to go to the dining room by themselves then okay. But if you have tablemates then I wouldn't send them. I know that I would feel responsible for someone else's kids if they came alone, even if I wasn't asked. But then again, that's just me.

 

[lbgraves]

Not sure if this is in reference to my post but the friends who were still having dinner in the dining room insisted especially since it meant that their son who was DD's age would have his friends to talk to at dinner instead of sitting at the table with mom and dad. Also, we had arranged with the 12 yo and her parents to babysit DD8 during the dinner and take her to the show that one night for Palo and then she also watched her for a couple hours one afternoon. I know that the club was an option however I made these arrangements before the cruise in case DD was not over her "anticlub" feelings. She did go a couple times with friends over the 15 days but this just worked out better for us. DS was free to go to the club if he wanted to but chose to stay with DD and their "big kid friend". We have cruised with them before and have visited each other a few times IRL since we only live a few hours away.

We would never just leave the kids on their own or with strangers who we didn't know before the cruise though.