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I noticed a post about a Restaurant Survival Kit on Parent Hacks. Seeing that I enjoy Dining with Monkeys, you'd think that I would have one of these.
Sure, I occasionally have some lollipops stashed in my purse or maybe some stickers, but I don't think this counts.
I'm actually torn on this concept.
Part of me thinks that the monkeys need to learn the culturally appropriate behaviors of those eating in public without the use of props. But the other part of me (the part that usually needs to drink a beer before going to a restaurant) thinks Hmmm...a special "restaurant" book or toy might actually improve our overall dining experience.
What do you think? What are your tricks?
While you mull it over, read my latest review of the Soul Fish Cafe.
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7 comments:
Um, I used to let Calvin eat sugar from the little packets while we waited. LOL! It's probably not a bad idea to take a coloring book or something if the place is not the kind of place that has that stuff. It's not like they're going to need to color while waiting for their food when they're 25 ;-)
That's actually MY HACK! Woot!
Now it's true that my Aunt Jan's 6th husband used to come over to Thanksgiving dinner and read a novel THROUGH THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE (and really, I think we all preferred it), but I doubt it was because his mother used props at restaurants. Or maybe she did, but I'm sure her props were nipple clamps with batteries attached.
Our thoughts on it are that time is experienced much differently for children than it is for adults. And toddlers my daughter's age are not verbally there enough to pass the time with idle chit chat. They want to be doing something productive. Like hurling condiments at moving targets or stretching their vocal cords. And really, you have no control over how long it will take for the food to get there. You're paying good money to eat out, so I say why not make it as enjoyable as possible for everyone rather than white knuckling it while watching your toddler rev herself up?
There have been times where my survival kit did not work, and because I neglected to pack a syringe filled with cat tranquilizer, I have at times ordered a HUGE bowl of vanilla ice cream to pacify her while we shove our meals down our throats without chewing.
cathy that is so funny! ha. small internet huh? :)
I've done the ice cream thing too. But what I find works the best is with-holding any food of any snack sort for at least 3-4 hours before restaurant time and then my daughter will actually sit there and eat a little with us. That's no worse than feeding them packets of sugar...right?
My "restaurant kit" is an empty mint tin refilled with crayons, a couple of golf pencils, small sheets of paper (I slice up letter-size sheets into eighths with a paper cutter), stickers and a PocketMod with lined note pages and tic-tac-toe grids.
If I anticipate a longer wait, I'll add a small notepad and a pack of flash cards to my purse for her.
I would never let my kid eat sugar out of the packets- he's on a strict ketchup and butter diet when waiting for food at a restaurant! :)
But seriously, we couldn't live without crayons or some sort of entertainment. He just doesn't have the patience to wait for food to be delivered.
Can I get in on some of that cat tranquilizer? :)
i agree with cathy, as i have a toddler aged son. one of my favorite things to take along are Wiki Stix I even lose track of time playing with them!
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