Reply to Do you think taking your kids out to eat frequently helps them to be "well-behaved" in restaurants?

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Reply to "Do you think taking your kids out to eat frequently helps them to be "well-behaved" in restaurants?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have three boys, two of who are very close in age and who were very wild below the age of five.  The other misbehaved in a typical way for whatever age he happened to be.

We eat out regularly, at least once per week and often several tume per week, anywhere from chain restaurants to very nice "adult" restaurants, club type dining and event dining (weddings, military events, special dinners).

My kids behave in restaurants. They knew what was expected from a very young age and got lots of practice at restaurant behavior since birth. We never brought toys, devices or a bag of entettainment and special snacks to restaurants. From a young age they were expected to stay in their seat, converse quietly, eat with age appropriate table manners, and color if the place had coloring sheets. As soon as they were old enough (around 3 or 4) we expected them to look the server inthe eye, order their own food, sides and drink, and thank the server.

We practiced this behavior often and that is why I believe they behaved in restaurants, even nice ones, from a very young age as they are not typically or notably well behaved kids.  They were very active and often naughty boys when they were younger.

They also (eventually) behaved in church from about the preschool age. That one was a little harder, especially since we attend a very quiet and traditional church, but we used the same type of rules (no snacks, no running around and if you go to the cry room you get held like a baby, no toys or outside items, and you must follow appropriate behavior like kneeling when everyone kneels).

Lots of practice and clear expectations yields the best results, especially with things like restaurants.

I love eating out and it was important to us that we be able to eat out (and attend church) as a family.

As I said, my kids were on the wild side and I was by no means an exceptional or disciplined parent.  This behaviir was important to me so we practiced a lot and tye resukts speak for themselves.

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Oh, and when we would take our kids to nice upscale restaurants, we woukd definitely get the stinkeye fromnother patrons as we walked in (3 boys under the age of seven, two little ones that just looked energetic and mischevious, who wouldn't look at them sideways).

Inevitably, we would get a compliment at the end from someone, usually an older couple or server, about how surprised they were at how well the boys behaved. Those compliments encouraged future good behavior.
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