what should i do if toddler drops food on ground at restaurant?

[Anonymous]

do i clean it all up?
do i leave it?

at lebanese taverna, i apologized profusely to the waiter, who said, oh its no problem and got out a little vaccuum and took care of it (as we'd watched him do with the toddler at the table next to us)
at chicken out, yesterday, i picked up as many big pieces as i could, but there was still little bits of scattered food around... i was alone with my squirmy DD and i just couldn't do a perfect job with her trying to jump out of the high chair...

what do you do?

[Anonymous]

I don't let my child drop food on the floor. If it's bad enough than it's more than a few pieces (which I pick up once we're done), I take the food away from my child and feed him. I think it's rude to leave a make a huge mess like that. Of course the restaurant will tell you it's ok, as they will look bad to other customers if they allow you to clean it up.

[Anonymous]

Exactly what 18:34 said. What else is the waiter going to say? Don't let your kid shove food on the floor.

During the really tight window of childhood (~13 mos) when you cannot control this too well, then you carry a mat or those disposable plastic sheet mats with you in your diaper bag. You lay them out under the high chair.

[Anonymous]

We have an almost 3 year old and a 10 month old. Neither throw food on the floor but inevitably a lot of the food they are trying to get in their mouth ends up on the floor, especially with the baby. DH and I scoop up what we can with a baby wipe. The rest the waiter typically insists on cleaning up. We never leave the food there, but we also don't ever understand how all the food actually got onto the floor since the kids were eating it, not throwing it down. Tip well if you are leaving a mess for the wait staff to clean up.

[Anonymous]

We watch the kids ALL the time, but somehow some of the food gets on the flood. I pick up what I can from the floor and also try to keep the table as clean as we can. If kids make a mess we tip more.

[Anonymous]

Clean it up as best you can and tip better.

I can't believe you even have to ask this.

[Anonymous]

19:13, why so bitchy?

OP, if your DD is messy, maybe you could spread some newspaper on the floor under the high chair to facilitate clean-up. It might also help to limit the quantity of food in her actual possession at any given time, and limit it to things that won't cause an unholy mess. (So no mashed potatoes, for instance!)

[Anonymous]

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to NPR show in kids' eating. During the portion of the show where they were discussing eating out, a waitress called in and said that it's ok to bring kids to a restaurant IF you clean up the floor when they drop food. Like all of you, I watch my kids constantly - they don't intentionally drop food, but when there are a lot of us around a small table and there is lots of stuff on the table, accidents happen. The next few times I went into a restaurant after hearing this show, I tried to clean up the floor. But, it disgusted me and I decided that I would rather never eat out if cleaning the floor was the requirement. It's just gross to lean down and put your hands all over the floor where people walk after they have walked through the bathroom and where food falls and where that food that falls gets mashed into the floor by the people who walk on the floor, some after they have been in the bathroom. I decided that I can't believe cleaning the floor is a prerequisite to my kids being welcome in a restaurant. So, I stopped doing it. If we have a particularly messy night, which is rare, but does happen if the table space is small, I tip more than usual. And, I only go to kid friendly restaurants. But, I don't clean up the floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clean it up as best you can and tip better.

I can't believe you even have to ask this.

This. Not the snide part.

[Anonymous]

op here: wow, i can't believe how rude some of you are - asking why i have to ask this??

hello, have you ever had a toddler? i do feed my child, i do keep food away from my child, i do not "allow" her to throw food, but sometimes, food ends up on the floor despite her bib, despite her highchair cover, despite my best efforts.

to those who responded i should tip better, i do at proper restaurants; but I'm not sure how to compensate people at fast-food type places... i guess since i'm the only one in the whole world whose toddler sometimes takes food out of her mouth and drops it on the floor or grabs a piece of lettuce off my plate and drops it on the floor, i should figure it out myself.

[Anonymous]

Stop being so petulant OP. Cover the floor with either a 35 cent Washington Post that you remembered to bring with you from home. Or carry these with you in your diaper bag =-= $12 for 15 floor mats:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ZVE2KG/ref=asc_df_B002ZVE2KG1073957?smid=A2SVLWJYV4TZYO&tag=nextag-baby-mp01-delta-20&linkCode=asn&creative=380341&creativeASIN=B002ZVE2KG

[Anonymous]

I have never seen anyone cover the floor around their toddler's space at the table - whether it be with a Washington Post (which now costs 75 cents) or a floor mat.

[Anonymous]

Dear OP:

You can't believe how rude some people on this board are?

Come on, this is DCUM! What did you expect? Nonjudgmental advice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never seen anyone cover the floor around their toddler's space at the table - whether it be with a Washington Post (which now costs 75 cents) or a floor mat.

We eat out quite a but and I have never ever seen this either.

As far as picking food up off the floor where people walked (gasp!), use a wet wipe or paper towel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clean it up as best you can and tip better.

I can't believe you even have to ask this.

This. Not the snide part.

Agree with the non-snide part. We would clean up at the end of the meal, as best we could. A friend of mine wouldn't even clean up after her kid at restaurants, I thought that was odd. She thought my cleaning up was odd.