Recently we celebrated my father in-law’s 81st birthday. This year was extra special because he underwent open heart surgery – a double bypass. Fortunately he’s doing really well!
To celebrate, we ended up going to a very nice Italian restaurant. With a name like Salvatore, Italian is a given.
It was going to be one of those long family dinners – appetizer, salad, main course, drinks, dessert – the works.
You would think after almost 7 years of parenthood I would have learned by now. Learn what you ask? To bring reinforcements! A coloring book, crayons, stickers. ANYTHING!!
But no – not me.
This is what happens with a 4 year old without reinforcements.
It starts out slow,
then the restlessness really sets in.
“Even I can balance” (“even” is her current favorite word)
“and even I can jump off. See – I’ll do it a hundred times”
“even I can make funny faces”
“even I know I’m driving you crazy”
I ended up having to give her my new Flip video camera to keep her occupied. Wasn’t too happy about it but there were no crayons in sight!
Don’t let this happen to you!
How do you handle restaurants with your kids?
My kids are older now so restaurants aren't a problem, but when they were younger we would only go to "kid friendly" places. I know that sounds like Dennys, but there are lots of nice restaurants that cater to families. We would search out the ones that brought crayons to the table and provided a children's menu. I find that when the waiter is nice to the kids the kids are much better behaved, so we would avoid anyplace that didn't seem to like kids.