Here are our top ten tips for eating in restaurants with kids when you are travelling with children both at home and abroad. They work pretty well whether you are eating in a family friendly chain, a child friendly local restaurant or a five star hotel with white table cloths (and nice staff who welcome kids). The Irish Hotels Federation has a great new Healthy Eating for Kids campaign with over 250 hotels and guesthouses signed up so far which is good news for parents who want their children to eat healthy food while on holiday which can be an issue.
Top ten tips for family friendly dining
Decide where you want to go and try to get there before the children get too hungry as tempers can get frayed and this can start the meal off badly. If you have a choice go early as the food should arrive quicker and the children will be in better humour and less likely to disturb other customers.
Always try to go to a restaurant where you feel the children will be welcome and that you believe is a family friendly restaurant. This will mean that there are better food options in terms of smaller portions or a kids menu but you will also feel more relaxed. This does not have to be fast food as there are now lots of restaurants both at home and abroad that have finally decided that the family market is justifiably worth courting and providing for appropriately. Noisy restaurants can actually work very well for drowning out baby noises or toddler tantrums so keep them on the list and personal recommendations are always a good bet.
Make meal times fun. If there is some open space or grass for the children to play in within sight without disturbing other diners and perhaps meet other children this is often a good option. Fish tanks, colouring competitions and other novelties are a great idea.
If you have a young baby try to time your meal to coincide with your baby’s sleep as this will give your more time to talk. Ask for a table where you can put the cot or the car seat out of the way so everyone is comfortable including the waiting staff and the other diners. Ring in advance to ask for this if you can so that room can be made or a good table kept for you.
If you need a booster seat, nappy changing facilities or a high chair check that they have one by ringing in advance. If they only have one bring your own as it could well be taken. Always book if you can to avoid disappointment.
Order water and something such as bread to starve off the immediate hunger that kids will develop once they see other diners eating as soon as possible after you arrive. Older children who can read love the novelty or reading their own menu as they feel very grown up and do try to involve even younger children if there are pictures on the kid’s menus.
Ask for the children’s meals to be served first so that you can help them before your own food arrives and they can often be slow eaters.
It is best to hold off on other drinks until the closer to the time when the food is served as kids will fill up on liquids and be too full to eat their meals. They are also quite expensive.
If there are no children's meals ask for a half portion or a starter depending on the age of your child. Most restaurants will be able to do something off menu or simple pasta if there is nothing the children will eat on the menu.
To keep the kids entertained while eating out by bring entertainment with you. Colouring books, pencils, toys or games are a great way of keeping your kids occupied. Have a look at our entertaining the kids section for some more ideas. If you forget to bring things to entertain the kids always ask the staff if they have something and if not see can you improvise.Very loud battery toys will disturb other diners so leave them at home.
If it is all going well you may even have time for a coffee. One tip though is to order the bill at the same time so that if things start to go downhill you can make a quick exit.
If you have a family favourite restaurant or have eaten anywhere that you think deserves a particular mention as a family friendly restaurant we would love to hear from you on the forum here on Stickyfingerstravel.com. Here are few suggestions from us for Dublin.
You will find lots of family friendly travel tips and advice in our research and advice section to help you book the right family holiday. Check out also the experiences of other parents and travellers in our parents forum and add your own experiences as we are a great believer in real parent's experiences as the best measure of whether somewhere will suit you for your family holiday.
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