It's been pretty slow on this board so I thought I'd come up with something to talk about.  How about going out to a restaurant?  Do you attempt it with a few kids?  DH and I generally hate going out with all 3.  We try to get MIL or my mom to watch the older 2 at least, it's just so much more relaxed.  Our kids like to be loud and fight when we go out, so if we take them, we definately try to go to a family friendly place where everyone else is being loud, too.  When I'm not preggo, DH and I like to go out alone if we're going to be drinking. 

How do you handle your kids in public if they get out of control?! 

pinkinourfuture?:

How do you handle your kids in public if they get out of control?! 

I take them out to the car and we sit....and sit....and sit until they are ready to go back inside and act appropriately.  I NEVER take all 3 out to a restaurant by myself when my dh isn't home; I know my limits!

We go out to eat allllllll the time!!!  Especially on Sundays.  We got to church and then off to eat somewhere.  We always take all the kids.  It is our thing.  It isn't easy but we do ok.  We try to pick kid friendly places like "friendlys" and my kids also love the local diners....LOL.  They really like going out to eat because we do it so often and have ever since my oldest was 2 months old.  So I guess I got them pretty used to it.  For the most part they are good but there have been 2 incidents where they were so bad that we walked right out of the restaurant.  That is usually because the baby hasn't had a nap and she was being horrible.  So we make sure we time it so everyone is well rested.  The other thing I do is before the waitress even brings the drinks, I suggest they put a order of french fries in ASAP so that keeps them busy until their meal comes.  Sometimes they don't eat their meal though...but at least dh and I get a chance to  Depending on the restaurant we ask for dinner rolls or breadsticks.  Main thing is kids don't want to wait and that is why they get cranky so we make sure they accomodate us.  I will also get salad bar a lot and give my kids pieces of it that keeps them entertained....even if they just play with the peas or something...LOL  I also make sure they have crayons and paper to draw and I let them bring cars to play with too.  Overall it works out nicely.

We take our kids out to eat all the time too.  Normally once a week, sometimes as many as 4 or 5 depending on how things go.  We go to all sorts of restaurants from family friendly (not so keen on these as other people's kids drive me insane), to pub restaurants, to more formal adult dining.  We take them all as we don't think it's fair to take a few and not the others and we don't really have any problems with them.  They sit nicely, they sit still, they eat what they're served (most of the time), they're quiet and polite. 

I normally have a back up plan for if they get noisy of a few crayons and paper, or cars or toys in the car but they don't get those as standard - we use them as distraction techniques if they start to get noisy.

It's quite a nice experience for us, and a treat for them.

I went out to eat with the boys and my mom today.  I guess the hostess put us at the back of the restaurant with the other families with kids.  On both sides of our booth, they had little kids.  I have to say I was sooooo proud---my boys were all little angels!  The other kids on both sides were screaming and getting in trouble.  I was very happy when I left!  It's nice to have moments like that!

We love to go out to eat, so hopefully we'll still be able to with 3.  I have to say it's much better now that my youngest is over 1 and can eat pretty much whatever.  It was harder when he couldn't eat off our plates cause he always wanted to!  They do okay as long as there's food, haha, so we usually ask for bread or something right away.

We go out to eat 1-2 times a month.  When we go it is usually a buffet and at a slow time b/c we need 2 tables put together.  It is alot of trouble for us to go out to eat so we order take out 1-2 times a week.

I have not really posted in the large family group much before but I am feeling like I have a Huuuuge family!! I took 4 of the 5 boys out to 3 soccer games yesterday, one played the other refereed 3 games and then to lunch all by myself...Granted it was McDonalds, but it was out and in public! I pride myself on raising little people with good manners, I have never left a resturaunt because they acted out. occasiaonally the have been a little to noisy but that is why we don't go to 5 star joints....My kids know what we expect from them and if they were to act up they would not get to go out with us..we start from very early on with them..So far it has worked for us...

We have always taken our kids out to eat, on planes, to movies. There is NO acting out, never was. As a matter of fact , many a time we have gotten compliments on how well behaved they are (especially on planes where at first poeple groan when they see all these kids!) If they scream or fight or try to get up, the few times we have had this (usually due to fatigue) we would taken them out and not let them back in till they are calm and we know they will behave. But honestly, the more you go out the easier it is.

When we had only 3 or 4 it was way easy, now if we have only 5 of them with us in restaurants we always comment on how quiet it is. LOL

eightin08:

But honestly, the more you go out the easier it is.

I've heard this before from a couple of different people and think it's probably true, but don't know it.  You have to have money to be able to go out regularly, which we don't.  So I'm afraid to say my kids don't have a lot of practice and experience in this area.  DH always insists we get fast food at the drive through, if we even eat out at all.  I used to insist we go eat inside, and he would moan about that.  But that was always when we would have a younger baby who would be screaming their head off in the carseat and couldn't eat what we were and definitely not on their own.  A neighbor of mine says her kids act perfectly in stores and everywhere they go, but she says she goes out with them to somewhere at least once a day.  Personally we don't have the money to pay for gas just to drive around, let alone go and actually buy things everyday.  Do you think having more money equals better behaved kids, for this reason? 

mommyem:

Do you think having more money equals better behaved kids, for this reason? 

Oh no, I hope not! We do not have lots of money at ALL. We used to have alot more (and took lots of plane trips, that ended about 1.5 years ago) but now we do fast food and always go inside. We go to parks all the time, friends houses all the time,movies sometimes.. (I hate staying home!) When food shopping  every week, they are always good, although I would rather not take them because then I spend more on snacks. Sometimes we go to the mall in the winter (just to get out), not to buy stuff, just to look at things and go to the food court.

Our vacations once a year is to a camp ground and they behave excellently. I have to say I have never gotten a complaint or disapproving look. We are driving down to Myrtle Beach soon (from NJ) to a reunion in some fancy hotel, I have no worries at all about the drive or the hotel.

So, no you don't have to have money, but I admit you have to have patience and lay the law down from the start. I have been a mom for a long time, believe me, I learned along the way :)

PS- Mommyem, your girls are so cute. Congrats on another, I always thought I would have at least 4 girls!! (And I love the name Isabelle, we are comtemplating that as a middle namefor the next one :) )

eightin08:

mommyem:

Do you think having more money equals better behaved kids, for this reason? 

Oh no, I hope not! We do not have lots of money at ALL.

If you have the money to go do fast food, movies, and the food court at the mall with all the kids you have, let alone just paying for the gas in whatever vehicle you have to drive them around in.  Then I would still consider you as having a lot of money.    I am that poor!  Although if you used to take trips on planes a lot, you probably think you are poor compared to then.   

We do really well at restaurants most of the time. If they start being bad I threaten to take them to the bathroom and spank them!

We get stared at no matter what though with all our boys!