1. 10 Restaurant survival tips for parents
How often do you resist the temptation to go out for a meal fearing that your child might not
behave appropriately? Or simply because you feel that your child might feel uncomfortable?
For many parents, this is a constant dilemma. Quite many avoid restaurant visits completely
until the child ‘grows up’, thereby giving up some enjoyable and precious family time
moments. Here are a few handy tips for parents to make their meals enjoyable along with
their children.
Here are some DOs
Train your kids: It is not always good to restrain your child forcibly. But, you can
teach your kids on how to behave when in a public place. You can actually play
restaurant at home with your kids and teach them few etiquettes such as how to sit
there for longer durations (from a kid’s point of view), how to eat without spilling
food, how not to pour drinks on the table or on the chair, etc. Don’t forget to reward
them for good behaviour, even in the mock session. Rewarding your kids for good
behaviour can actually shape up their grown up personality.
Keep them engaged: In the above point, sitting idle for longer durations is
mentioned. Kids don’t like to sit around idle for long and how to make them sit idle
for longer time? Engage them in some kind of game. You can carry small toys (which
are not objectionable to the restaurant) which you can give them to play around on the
table, until the order arrives.
Speak to the child, don’t make them feel neglected, answer their queries and involve
them while placing the order. Make the entire experience memorable and pleasant for
the child and yourself.
Choose the best time: The key to a good restaurant experience even with kids around
is going at the right time imaginable. Generally, kids have their lunch or dinner much
earlier than adults. Hence, choose a time which coincides with your kids’ hunger and
there is less rush at the restaurant. Say, your kids have their dinner between 6:00 and
7:00 PM. Reach the restaurant by 6:00 PM and order food first for your kids. After
they finish their meals and feel drowsy, you can start placing orders for you and your
spouse.
Choose a cabin: Prefer to choose a cabin instead of a regular table. In a regular table,
the chances for your kids to get down from their chairs and running hither and thither
are much higher. When you choose a cabin, parents can sit on the either side of the
entrance blocking their way out. In other words, ‘what’s inside the cabin stays in the
cabin’. Until your kids are little older maintain a list of restaurants in your locality
with small cabin facility.
Take a U-turn from the restaurant: Yes, it may sound little crazy, but one of the
best ways to avoid embarrassments. Do this when you think that you are not ready to
handle your kids in a public place. Just go to the restaurant, go straight to the ‘take

2. away’ section, place your order and return to home. In this way, you don’t have to
worry about your kids yelling or playing ‘catch me if you can’ in the lobby.
Here are some DON’Ts
Do not carry crayons or pencils: In an effort to engage your child, do not carry
crayons or pencils. Crayons are okay as long as your kids have a paper to scribble
along. But, when the paper’s done, chances are that your kids might actually scribble
on the table cloth or on the chair are much higher. Imagine a white table cloth with
bright red or dark green scribbling of the sun or moon on it. It would be very
embarrassing, right.
Serving hot food: Most restaurants serve their food steaming hot. Kids are like heat
magnets, always touching the hottest things around. You wouldn’t want your child to
touch something very hot. The moment, the waiter brings in the hot stuff, keep the hot
stuff with yourself far from the reach of your children.
Keep away sharp things: Not surprisingly, a restaurant table is full of sharp things
like forks and knives. As soon as you spot them, either keep them out the reach of
your children, or simply hand them over to the waiter as soon as he arrives. This way,
you can avoid situations of anyone getting hurt. Also make sure to move away the
cutlery to the table’s corner far from the reach of children.
Diaper change: There are chances that your baby might need diaper change while
dining. Do not change it at the table itself. Instead, ask the waiter, if there is a better
place to do it. Or else, your car might be the only option.
Beware of smoking: Though smoking in public places like restaurants is banned, still
there are few restaurants that allow smoking. Enquire first and avoid going to such
restaurants. Do not let your child be in such a place in the first hand. Second hand
smoke is as dangerous as smoking and still worse. The little lungs of your child
cannot bear such high amounts of smoke.
Depending upon the situations and your child’s behaviour or personality traits (some
observable), you can improvise. We must remember that kids are kids and the way they play
around, scream or have fun, we would never be able to do it for the rest of our lives. Almost
everybody would agree that childhood is the best time in life. Having kids does not kill your
life, instead it improves your life and takes to the next level. Kids make you and your spouse
happy and wonder still, having kids can actually prolong your life, as one study says.
If you’ve survived with your little one in a public place, please share your
tips/tricks/advices/experience with our readers. We would love to hear you.