OT: Does anyone else take their children out to nice restaurants?

[pooh4evr]

Depends what you mean by nice -- my girls call Olive Garden "the fancy restaurant" we use it as a reward- anyway - last week for my oldests bday we went to a Japanese place where they cook the food infront of you and they did well- We (DH and I ) don't really go out to many fancy places ourselves and if we do it is to have time to ourself.

 

[Princess Roo]

I have no problem with people bringing whatever aged children they want to a restaurant IF they are willing to remove them if they misbehave. Unfortunately, many parents don't do that and then everyone in the area suffers. So, we ask not to be seated near children if we are out on a date at a romantic restaurant. I am shocked how many parents take their young children to the nice fondue restaurant near us where dinner lasts more than 2 hours and let them run up and down between the tables or drum on the tables or scream at the top of their lungs! (I'm also not offended, though, when adults ask to be seated away from us on airplane, even though I know my child will behave...I expect they have been "burned" by poorly-behaving children there before. )

As for us, my child is well-behaved in public, but sometimes loud - especially if he gets excited by something like good food! So, we only go to "fancy" places that don't have that dim, quiet, romantic feel that someone else mentioned. Certainly when he is a little older we will take him (and leave if he does misbehave).

 

[_queenie_]

I prefer to think that the frowns from other guests are because they are jealous that MY children are well enough behaved to be able to enjoy a nice meal out. Perhaps the adults you saw frowning at you were bothered by the fact that your family could dine out TOGETHER whenever they wanted....and those adults perhaps only got to go out without the kids once or twice a year and couldn't do nice places with their kids!

Great point!

Today at 9 & 10, and even at 5 & 6 my kids stood out.

We do get a lot of compliments, but they're usually from the waitstaff, not fellow diners. Though there are plenty of good restaurants in our area, not many people in our area take their children out to eat at places any better than Bugaboo Creek, so I guess that explains the shock some get. My DD13 got up to go to the bathroom just the other night while we were out, and my DH said he could hear this group of people whispering about her as she walked by.

Depends what you mean by nice -- my girls call Olive Garden "the fancy restaurant" we use it as a reward- anyway - last week for my oldests bday we went to a Japanese place where they cook the food infront of you and they did well- We (DH and I ) don't really go out to many fancy places ourselves and if we do it is to have time to ourself.

By nice I mean Citrico's/Shula's type places.

 

[justhat]

We used to take our daughter to nice restaurants from birth and there was never an issue. She sat quietly in her high chair for the duration of the meal and never made a scene or anything close to it.

Then my son was born and, well, he's a different child. We have taken him to nicer places, but if he's hungry he whines till he gets food and as soon as he's done eating his few morsels he is ready to leave. It makes fine dining a challenge to say the least. So we've scaled it back and reserve the nicer restaurants for more special occasions, but we still routinely dine out with our kids in more kid-friendly places so that our son can learn how to behave in nicer environments.

 

[rumrunnergirl]

Yes, we take them out to eat with us, whether at home or Disney. The only time DH & I eat alone is when the church has "parent's night out" or we use the Neverland Club at Disney for a date night. How else are kids going to learn to behave in a nice place if they never get to go to one?

My kids haven't always been perfect when eating out, but no one is perfect. We've never had people frown at us and have even gotten compliments. You have to learn what works best for your kids. Do they need a little snack, or will they then be full by the time they get their dinner and be antsy? Do they want to color or play a quiet game? etc.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Yes, all the time and my kids are 3, 2 and 4 months old. Everyone is always AMAZED at how good they are. They are only good because we have been taking them out since they were babies. If anyone thinks they can misbehave in any way whatsoever, they get 1 warning After that the second time, they go off to the lobby and get 'spoken' to about the proper way to behave and what the conssequences are. The third time and they get their food to-go and mommy or daddy (we switch off) takes them away to the van to eat. There is no TV on and they have to be buckled into their car-seats. My daughter only did it once.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Yes, yes yes! We take our boys everywhere, within reason of course. For instance, I would never bring them to a restaurant at 9:00 at night, way past their bedtime! The big one is only 3 and the little one will be 1 May 1st. We usually go out to eat anywhere between 5:00 and 6:30 and never have a problem. They are well-behaved and people always remark about that, in a good way of course. Well, mostly the people in our party, but still. Not many dirty looks. If we do get dirty looks, I try and ignore them. The odd (and I do mean very odd) time my older son freaks out a little at the dinner table, I will take a walk with him and remove him from the situation so as not to disturb other diners. Or at least keep it to a minimum. A lot of times also, we will take them to a nice Sunday brunch, 11 AM, family hour.

If a couple of at dinner at 5PM at a place that is very accepting of children, they should reconsider and go at a later hour. I do think that after a certain hour kids should not be eating out anyway, or be out at all!! That's just me though, I like sticking to our normal routine!

 

[_queenie_]

Yes, all the time and my kids are 3, 2 and 4 months old. Everyone is always AMAZED at how good they are. They are only good because we have been taking them out since they were babies. If anyone thinks they can misbehave in any way whatsoever, they get 1 warning After that the second time, they go off to the lobby and get 'spoken' to about the proper way to behave and what the conssequences are. The third time and they get their food to-go and mommy or daddy (we switch off) takes them away to the van to eat. There is no TV on and they have to be buckled into their car-seats. My daughter only did it once.

I do the same, but it only happened once in Quebec City when my DD13 was four (long story). If dinner is ever taking a longer time than it usually does (over two hours), I'll take my DD3 out to the foyer/entry to the restaurant to give her a little time to stretch if she looks a little ancy (if going to the bathroom half way through the meal doesn't satisy her). I'm always very careful not to make a scene though!