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Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
Taking Food for a Toddler to a Restaurant?
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Anonymous
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I'm sure they'll love to see you waltz in on a Friday night with TUPPERWARE.
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Anonymous
Too funny! |
Anonymous
| I also find that our daughter wants to eat what we eat which helps her try new things, particularly when we eat out. I agree with others that the kiddie menu food is crap and we don't like to order it. Our child has not yet had a chicken nugget or fish stick, but she does like fries! We also waited to order whole meals because the cost was ridiculous when we didn't know if she would eat it. She is almost 2.5 and she is eating most of a meal plus some of our food so hopefully you will see this change over time. |
Anonymous
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I googled this, and in many places, it is a violation of the health code. I haven't found anything in the DC health code banning it though.
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Anonymous
| We don't order food from kids' menus for our 2.5 year old. He doesn't eat that kind of thing. He eats whatever we're eating. We do offer him raisins or small crackers since I usually carry a snack for him anyway. I would feel self-conscious taking a container of food for him. |
Anonymous
| I think at three-you should be able to figure something out. My gut is that this family is being cheap. Hopefully they will at least tip waitress more since they will need to be at larger table to accommodate a family instead of two that are eating. As a former waitress, this kind of behavior is weird--fine to bring cheerios for a toddler but for a preschooler who is way capable of eating something, it's annoying. More annoying is that a lot of these families with toddlers and other little people tend to be the worst tippers--can't tell you how many times I cleaned up a huge mess of food that wasn't ours by people who would leave 10% or less. Also, if I was asked if it was okay--I always said sure because what could I do at that point?? Say no and then get no tip? |
Anonymous
| A point that hasn't been raised is that, by and large, restaurant food is not healthy. Sure, there are healthy options, but my toddler won't eat a salad. The pasta and rice are always enriched white products. Even sandwiches on "brown" bread are simply that. Not from whole grain. It's next to impossible to get organic meat. Restaurants tend to cook with a lot of oil. And I won't even mention the ridiculously unhealthy food on childrens' menus. The difference between whole grain pasta and organic turkey balls v. enriched white pasta and ground beef meatballs is pretty astounding - probably over 30 grams of saturated fat. Not to mention that white pasta is virtually worthless as far as nutritional value is concerned. I don't feed dc that kind of food at home, and I prefer not to in a restaurant. We don't always take food. It depends on where we're going and what's available. We always tip well (having both been servers while in school) and always try to clean up after ourselves. We take the tiny diner placemat and bib, which catch a lot of food. We're regulars at a lot of places and I'm know our repeat business is appreciated. I'm certainly not going to stop because a few uptight parents on dcum think it's tacky. DC's health is much, much more important. |
Anonymous
| 9:36 PP again. And we don't take tupperware, so no need to get your panties in a wad. |
Anonymous
| 9:36 poster: If you think the food is so unhealthy -- too much so for your toddler -- then why are YOU going and eating? Just pick somewhere else or stay home! (And I agree it is usually not very healthy, but I think it is okay to do on occasion -- for me and my 3 year old.) |
Anonymous
Good grief, can't you understand wanting better for your children? I really have no opinion whatsoever on your eating habits. My post was not intended to address the issue of whether to eat out with your children. That's not the topic of this thread. Most of the posters who criticized us for taking food for our children did so assuming that we were somehow harming our "picky" eaters by not exposing them to the breadth of food available in the restaurants. My only point was that that's not the case. It's not that dc doesn't eat variety or can't eat off the menu. It's that I choose for him not too. And there aren't a lot of healthy options. And I think if you were to ask the restaurants that we frequent if they would prefer we stay at home so we could feed our child healthier, I think they would not choose that. So if they don't care and I don't care, why should I stay home because you do for some inexplicable reason? |
Anonymous
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Will never understand how posts on this board get so judgemental and rude...
DS is not quite 2 yet - when we go to a resturant we try to introduce him to new foods. At some places we visit regularly..where they don't have kid's menus, we have had luck just getting some side dishes - i.e. meatballs at an Italian restaurant for him. While we will always try to give him some of ours typically will have his regular snacks and a back-up just in case. IMO this is just smart parenting. In my work - developmental pediatrics - I consider many 3 y.o to be closer to toddler than preschool, whatever those terms really mean anyway. Age is only one factor of development. And many children are picky eaters long past the age of three. |
Anonymous
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I can fully understand why someone would question the practices of bringing a child to an eating establishment, where you will not allow them to eat the food. It is understandable if the child has food allergies, but for a child with out dietary restrictions, or deadly reactions to certain ingredients, it is not.
If you don't want a child to eat food that has been cooked with oils, enriched white pasta, or non organic foods, then just don't take them to places where those things are offered. They are few and far between, but organic restaurants are popping up, look for those. A child at the age of three, should be able to eat grown up foods, and enjoy what is offered in a restaurant, kids menu or not. I am of course not a mother of a picky eater, not sure if it is luck, or persistence. Children have to try someone ten or fifteen times before they really decide if they like it or not. |
Anonymous
| I love the mom who is getting all riled up about restaurant food being too unhealthy for her child and why should she suffer. Another example of a it's all about me parent. What if everyone did this practice--can you imagine how annoying for restaurants. She doesn't seem to understand that when she and hubby walk in and take up a table for four instead of two since there will only be two..they are taking business away plain and simple. If she thinks the food is sooooooo awful, she shouldn't go..or get a sitter. |
Anonymous
Exactly! 
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Anonymous
Actually, in the DC area there are many restaurants with healthy food that's healthfully prepared. I cook at home or we go out to an appropriate restaurant because not only do I not want to feed my child unhealthy food, I don't want to eat it myself. Since I'm a vegetarian, it's probably easier for me because I'm not looking for meat (for any number of reasons). Put the organic milk in a Sigg bottle and the waitstaff assumes it's water. |