My child and restaurants-ugh

its disney, most kids are crying so at least you wont be the only criers



just my opinion, you shouldn't be taking any kid under 3 or 4 to disney, its just too young for them to remember or really enjoy anything


i wish you the best of luck

Oh my god. :confused3 So if you have older children they have to miss out on Disney because they have a DB or DS under 4, no way I pay for my little one to go same price as older child & he loves all the music, characters & evening lights,he is under 2 & this will be his third time before he turns 2. There are lots & lots of babies in Disney.We would never allow DS to ruin anyones dinner so far he has always been good but first time for everthing and if he does have o melt down moment we promise we will do our best to entertain him & if that fails we will remove him so fear not your dinner will not be ruined by my DS ! My dinner might though:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: the joys of parenthood.:laughing:
 
It is disney and there will be kids. My DD4 sometimes is a total angel, other times not so much. I know people expect kids to be boisterous, however noone can enjoy a meal with a screaming child, so add my voice to the advice for having one parent go for a walk with the kiddo if he is out of control.

Oh, and bribing starts working around the 2-year mark, and is perfectly acceptable in my book. On our first trip to WDW DD was 3 1/2, I bought Halloween size boxes of Smarties which I would give her to reward any good behavior/ avoid bad behavior. Someone call the parenting police!!! lol
 
Perhaps I am the odd girl out, but we go out to dinner all the time with the kids. I make sure that I am fully equipped with plenty of things to keep the kids busy. I have little packs of markers and those tiny activities books ( got them both at cracker barrel ) little note pads, little toys, etc.. I also make sure that we are mindful of the times we are going, I want the kids to be hungry for dinner but not starving or exhausted. If letting them eat something from the diaper bag and taking part of their dinner home keeps the peace then I am all for it.

As for other parents, well I can be very tolerable. I know how hard it can be sometimes. I have seen my children go from little angels to wolves in a matter of minutes under different circumstances. If a child starts to scream in a restaurant , especially a family restaurant. I don't make a big deal, while I say a prayer of thanks that today its not me. However the parents that ignore the child and let them scream aggrevate me. I just feel that if you can't calm your child down in a reasonable amount of time, please leave the restaurant untl you can. I've missed out on dinner because of my kids behavior at times, thats what being a parents is all about.

I know that some people will say that it's not fair because they've paid for their meal and they should get to eat it warm or they rarely get to go out, but it's inconsiderate to allow your wants and needs to trump all the other diners. I think we've all had an instance where we've been wished that a parent would leave the resaturant with their child. I know I have. I would never let my child ruin someone elses dinner and I'd appreciate it if others would do the same.

:) jmo. Every kid has good days and bad days.. it's just how you handle them that matters.. I would say go, and have fun and just hope it's the former more than the latter. And if sometihng does go awry, just remember there is always next time. No need to get upset it happens to all of us :)
 
Ds is a screamer he usually gets boared and then breaks down. I am sorry people feel that way about not bringing a toddler out to eat,but there is a reason they call them Family Rest. I wouldn't go to Cali Grill or AP, but CM LTT those are Family places it is so loud in there you usually can't hear the screaming anyway. I will tell you we had a problem at 50's prime time once the people next to us were seated they said " Well I hope he is quiet what are people thinking bringing babies out to eat." Well DS started screaming and we just laughed because it was like he knew what they were saying. I did speak up and say. I paid my addmission too We have the right to eat just as much as anyone else. Then his 7 year old started crying because she couldn't get her way.

So what I am trying to say is At Disney EVERYONE has at least one Melt down including ADULTS!!!!! Go have fun bring crackers Yogurt Melts are a favorite of DS and ask to be seated next to the tank at Coral Reef it should keep you LO busy!


Do you mean to say you allowed your child to scream through a meal in a restaurant? I seriously hope not. I think this would be the height of rudeness, not to mention it is doing very little in teaching a child proper manners.

That being said, I have no issue with people bringing children to restaurants, family restaurants or not. My issue is with people who take their children anywhere and do not correct their behavior. I went to a baseball game this weekend and the parents behind me allowed their about 6ish son to stand up, hang on the back of my seat and alternately scream (not cheer, just scream) and whistle in my ear., throughout the entire game. They allowed their about 3 year old to prop her feet over the back of Mr. Pug's chair, on his back (think shoes that have been walking around a baseball stadium :sick: ) and fling ice crream off a spoon throughout the game. Never once did they correct either child. It was if they were oblivious to their very existence.

The rest of my night was rined due to a migraine.
 

I think chef mickey's and liberty tree will great. There is a lot going on, and you get food rather quickly.
My daughter does the same thing, but mostly when we are shopping..:) Its just the age. I call them toddler moments. They are usually avoidable, but they happen.. Don't feel bad about taking her out places. There are too many over judgmental people who like to make parents feel like scum when their child isn't sitting still and being quiet. But all toddlers misbehave.. that doesn't mean parents should go into hiding till their children are 10. What good does that do anyway? For me and my daughter the best thing is for me to stay calm. I'm a people pleaser, so my first reaction is to see how everyone else is responding.. which usually stresses me out, which my dd senses that and gets more impatient. So if I'm calm, and ignore all the people (who should be minding their own dane business anyway) then the toddler moment is quickly diffused. I find that little toys, her dolly, or crayons keep toddler moments at bay. The coral reef might be the tougher, because its darker, and alot people go there for a more quiet meal. Fish and tanks for some reason scare my daughter, so we avoid that restaurant.

I hope you have a great trip!
 
Most of us have experienced this, my first dd was a pleasure at restaurants so I wasn't ready for my second who didn't really like to sit for long.

I always had a few special things in my "bag" that only came out at restaurants. Always a juice box or milk and some finger foods in case the meal was delayed. Something healthy but fun - like a toddler appetizer. I also had lots of fun, small and quiet toys for the table. Magnadoodle, stickers and wax paper or a sticker book, I spy books and such. My dd's loved to play with polly pocket or disney figures as well and I would make up stories abou them.

I did what a pp mentioned and if dh or I had to take a child out of the restaurant and walk it off we usually tried to return and "finish up" if we could. Of course sometimes that just wasn't possible (or fair to the other diners :) ) but we could usually turn things around and finish our meal.

As for WDW, we often planned our sit down meals for late lunch or late breakfast. My kids were ready to sit an cool off for a while in the mid afternoon and less likely to do so if they were overtired in the evening.

HTH
TJ
 
Not a parent, but I just want to encourage you to work with your little angel while dining out. You and your DH appear to be mindful of other diners, so you won't let a meltdown get too far out of hand. No, I don't enjoy listening to children scream or cry, but sometimes that's how they communicate, and it's up to the parents to decipher their needs.

And the other posters have good ideas for activities. Just one or two age-appropriate small toys, some mini-snacks while waiting for service (CM is a buffet, so not as much of an issue there), or occasionally just getting up and walking with her and she'll probably be among the most content children at WDW!

Don't stress--just be prepared for anything to happen. And enjoy your family holiday!
 
as someone who likes quiete romantic dinners i see where your coming from BUT, when you go to disney you expect kids to be around so i just live with it

I expect kids. But I've also noticed WDW is full of parents. And I do expect the parents to parent - which includes removing screaming kids from restaurants for the comfort of others where that is possible. Also, removing screaming kids from lines, removing overtired kids from the parks, keeping kids from running chocolate covered hands over strangers, keeping them from climbing on railings.
 
I expect kids. But I've also noticed WDW is full of parents. And I do expect the parents to parent - which includes removing screaming kids from restaurants for the comfort of others where that is possible. Also, removing screaming kids from lines, removing overtired kids from the parks, keeping kids from running chocolate covered hands over strangers, keeping them from climbing on railings.


ITA- I especially love the first line.

We rarely ate out with DD12 for the first two years of her life because she was just too unpredictable. It was more relaxing to eat at home or get a sitter.
 
Ds is a screamer he usually gets boared and then breaks down. I am sorry people feel that way about not bringing a toddler out to eat,but there is a reason they call them Family Rest. I wouldn't go to Cali Grill or AP, but CM LTT those are Family places it is so loud in there you usually can't hear the screaming anyway. I will tell you we had a problem at 50's prime time once the people next to us were seated they said " Well I hope he is quiet what are people thinking bringing babies out to eat." Well DS started screaming and we just laughed because it was like he knew what they were saying. I did speak up and say. I paid my addmission too We have the right to eat just as much as anyone else. Then his 7 year old started crying because she couldn't get her way.


Do I understand you correctly?- Since you paid for your vacation you now have the right to ruin a meal for strangers.:confused3

I'm sorry but it is rude to allow your child to disrupt others not to mention that a screaming child is clearly in distress and needs to leave the rest.
 
as someone who likes quiete romantic dinners i see where your coming from BUT, when you go to disney you expect kids to be around so i just live with it

There is a difference between being surrounded by kids and being surrounded by screaming or out of control children whose parents don't feel the need to do anything about it. Nobody is saying they don't want to be around children, but there is such a thing as parenting, even at Disney.
 
I wish I had some words of wisdom for you... but hey, my DD1 cries in Yankee Candle! LMAO! :lmao:

It's embarrassing as heck at the time, though. :confused3

Yankee Candle is someplace that I can't go....I have trouble just walking past it in the mall. The smell is sooooo strong. I get an incredibly bad headache whenever I walk into someone's house where they have Yankee (or other strong scented) candles lit. Within an hour of leaving their house I'm fine...but 5-10 minutes inside and it's heck. It's possible your daughter is the same way. Other than not shopping there, I don't know what else to do for her, but thought you'd like to know there may be a reason.


For OP....is is possible that the places where she reacts so badly could have something in common that bothers her? I am not particularly fond of Red Lobster because of the noise level.........they have music playing, TV blaring in bar section, and somehow it always seems like the dinner plates klanking and talking is escalated.....always figured it was the acostics because of the wood beam ceiling.

Cracker Barrell is usually much quieter, soft music playing, no TV, no bar section.....same with Golden Corral. Fast food sometimes have music playing but not the ton of other noises.

You might try taking some extra notice of the noise level where she has the most trouble. It's possible that she has an inner ear infection, or perhaps something else with her hearing is not quite right.

I do recall a short period of time when we couldn't eat out because the girls would get fussy and noisy.....I simply won't subject other people to my children's misbehavior so we would always have one parent take the noisemaker outside to see if that would calm them down. The few times it didn't we'd simply get our food to go and leave. They're too young at this age to reason with "be quiet or we're leaving", though I see parents yelling that quite often, lol. Thankfully they seemed to have grown out of it rather quickly or we'd have probably given up eating out. Before, and after, this short period they were happy babies/toddlers enjoying looking around at all the new stuff in the place, or playing with the few toys we brought for them. I still have no clue what that fussy period was....but I was really glad when it ended.


As for what to do at Disney.....haven't read all the responses, because I've seen threads like this before and they can get mean....but you probably need a game plan of what you'll do if she get fussy beyond what you feel is right to subject other diners too.

While normally I'd say that fussy kids are better at noisy restaurants where their noise won't be as noticeable....but if you experiment a bit and find that your daughter's problem is caused by noisy restaurants than obviously that's the wrong idea!

If you aren't able to chart or experiement and find a cause on your own, please do take her to her doctor to be examined, or at least call and talk to the doctor. It doesn't sound like a behavioral (or tired/cranky) problem if it consistently happens at some places but not others. And of course she's too young to help you figure it out!

Just keep chanting: This too shall pass, this too shall pass.
 
Yankee Candle is someplace that I can't go....I have trouble just walking past it in the mall. The smell is sooooo strong. .


Me too! I'd cry if you took me into Yankee Candle. :sad1: Allergies are the pits. :)
 
We too went through this when our oldest was little (is now 10 and would probably be dead embarassed if I told him about it........might have to go do that next :) ). Dh and myself are lousy cooks, so we eat out quite often. Our solution was to get a table, one person decide as quickly as possible what they wanted and then that person take ds outside....BEFORE he started up. Other person sits inside orders food etc. Push him round in his stroller a bit, talk to him and play and aim to be back inside shortly after the food arrived. Often he'd be asleep in his stroller by this point. Result!

And if not the other of us (who in theory has had some time to eat by this point) would take him outside.

Basically, we both got to eat (not always together :) ), kiddo was happy.

And it passed. (And then we moved onto the "wanting to use the restroom every 10 minutes phase")

Of course the first time we went to Disney World my kids (4 and 7 at the time) hid under the table at the character meals I'd so lovingly booked for us, terrified of the characters.

jane :)
 
Hi. If it makes you feel any better - me and my DH have brought our twin daughters to WDW 3 times so far and they are only 2 years old. We brought at 6 months old, 16 months old and 22 months old. We are going again when they will be 34 months.

We always stay at deluxe resorts with them and have been using the dining plan each time. Eating out has definitely been a challenge at times but for the most part there are families and kids at every restaurant. From time to time we would take turns holding them or walking them around or letting them color, play with stickers or a book. They liked to eat so we always order their food right away when we order our drinks. They eat first while we help them and then let them enjoy some ice cream or any dessert while we eat our dinner. We eat a little faster than we use to, but all in all we have had a great time with them. We have to go with the flow and work on their schedule. This might mean that we eat at loud places and we eat early but at least we eat. I make sure that all of our reservations are made months before hand and I make them much earlier than we think we will be hungry since we know there are always wait times.

One more thing - we always have had such nice service at the sit down restaurants and they are always sympathetic to couples with young children. They seem to do their best to seat us quick and feed us quick. Maybe thats because they want us our of there....haha.

Good luck! Have fun! Don't worry about what others will think.
 
Ds is a screamer he usually gets boared and then breaks down. I am sorry people feel that way about not bringing a toddler out to eat,but there is a reason they call them Family Rest. I wouldn't go to Cali Grill or AP, but CM LTT those are Family places it is so loud in there you usually can't hear the screaming anyway. I will tell you we had a problem at 50's prime time once the people next to us were seated they said " Well I hope he is quiet what are people thinking bringing babies out to eat." Well DS started screaming and we just laughed because it was like he knew what they were saying. I did speak up and say. I paid my addmission too We have the right to eat just as much as anyone else. Then his 7 year old started crying because she couldn't get her way.

So what I am trying to say is At Disney EVERYONE has at least one Melt down including ADULTS!!!!! Go have fun bring crackers Yogurt Melts are a favorite of DS and ask to be seated next to the tank at Coral Reef it should keep you LO busy!

Nothing personal and I think the people were rude to you but if you thought it was funny because your kid was screaming I would have been really mad. I pay too and if my kids are screaming I remove them from the restaurant until they stop. Just because it is a family restaurant does not mean it is a free for all. Sorry but that kind of stuff really gets to me. I understand a person/child having a bad day- we have all been there but if you think it is okay for your kid to scream their head off at a resatuarant while you laugh, well, it isn't.
 
OP - I'm sorry this threat has gotten heated, and you're getting a lot of input about how a screaming kid ruins effects the poster's meal enjoyment, lol. As if you were wondering if it would bother others to have an unruly child seated next to them at a restaurant :lmao: .

I have 2 boys, ages 4.5 yrs. and 2.25 years. They've been going to restaurants since they were 6 weeks old. The older one has always had impeccable restaurant manners. My younger one just finished up a difficult stage where he just didn't want to sit for more than 20 minutes. We worked right through it, doing what others have suggested - trying to keep him entertained, and if he got too loud, either my husband or I took him out of the restaurant and sat him down outside for a time out.

If I were you, I'd continue to take her to restaurants if it's something you enjoy doing - just be prepared to remove her if she's really unhappy and making other guests uncomfortable. If at all possible, I'd bring her back into the restaurant before you leave, though, so she understands that she doesn't get 'off the hook' by fussing.

This is a great post!:thumbsup2
 
I remember this stage! It's fustrating! I started bringing the portable DVD player with me. Seemed to help bunches! Most people won't mind. And if they do, too bad...the alternative was far worse! A few times I ended up with other kids at our table. I did not mind though because everone was able to enjoy their meals. If you can try to get an end booth and set them on the side that has no both behind them, I try to manipulate this as much as I can bc it avoids DD's temptation to bug the booth behind you.

After this stage...it will get the constant potty breaks! Never fails, is always the second the food comes to your table!

I wouldn't worry too much about the other posters. We've all been there, you take the necessary steps to remove your child. It's the parents that don't recognize the disruptive behavoirs and let their kids carry on that ruin everyone else's meal. Every one is entitled to their opinions and have both good and bad experiences in these situations.
 
I haven't read all the responses, so forgive me if I repeat.

For starters, I'm one of those parents who take a crying child out of any restaurant after the first minute or so.

Some of the problems you can't fix-- if her teeth are hurting, she's going to cry and it won't matter where you are. The prospect of eating with sore teeth may be part of the problem-- could you bring something she likes to nibble on? (MY FAVORITE cure for teething: frozen mini-bagel halves. She can gnaw her heart out, the cold helps the gums, and she may end up eating a couple of bits of bagel.)

Some other things you may want to consider: She may do better earlier in the day. I know that my 5 year old still falls fast asleep when she's had enough-- your 14 month old may be reacting by having a tantrum. Add in the excitement of Disney and the occasional character and the Florida heat, and I may just have a tantrum myself. So maybe early meals will help. Plus, in October, there's the added benefit of fewer people in the restaurants (right?? I'm a teacher so I've only been there over summer) A less crowded restaurant may give her less of an audience and the other patons a bit of distance.

How about a new toy that's ONLY used for restaurants? Something that will fit into your bag, and isn't too big or complicated. I'm not sure exactly what I'm thinking here, but I bet you could come up with it if you tried.

Or a photo album. I've used them lots of times. Get her a photo album of her own and fill it with people she knows-- grandma and grandpa and the old lady who lives next door and so on. (Bring an assortment of pictures so you can rotate them in during your vacation and make it less predictable.) You can even make a game of it: who do you think is on the next page?

Could she be rebelling over the high chair/booster chair thing?? If you're driving, would you consider getting her a Sassy seat? Or renting one from one of the rental places in Orlando? I've never used them, but it might be a possiblity.

Also, take her from the table as soon as you've ordered. You don't want to use up all of her "good"-- and I know that a 14 month old only has a limited supply of good behavior in her at any given moment-- before the food arrives. You and your husband tag team-- one takes her exploring while the other waits at the table. Pre-arrange a sign of some sort that means dinner has arrived.

Hope something in here helps.
 


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