When I had small children, I remember being afraid to go out with them to eat. (Can we hear it too loudly? Can they be quiet? Can we ruin everyone’s food?) But we got our hands folded, and when we had a few tragedies, we often fell into the beautiful music in the restaurants. Now that he is older, I asked 11-year-old Toby and 8-year-old Anton to share their experimental and true experiments with younger boys …
1. Go early. When is the best time for a family meal? Says Toby: “It’s six o’clock. “Because it’s not very crowded and you just finished your show.”
2. Think of a quiet restaurant. Surprisingly, we have had the worst of it in family chat rooms. It’s noisy and noisy, and my kids are just crazy. Instead, we prefer quiet surroundings. Toby says: “Great restaurants are a wonderful experience. “They are not busy. You won’t look like 25 kids. “(Our favorite now are Frankies Spuntino and the Indian Table, both of which are great outdoor food.)
3. Everyone is allowed a special drink. “’Do you have baby drinks?’ You ask, ‘” says Toby. “I like to order Shirley Temples. In the cold, you can order hot chocolate.” Anton recommends Diet Coke * or Orange Crush, which is “unusual but very good.”
4. Encourage children to order. “I like to order my food because I get the right answers,” says Anton. “I say, ‘Can you give it to me…?’” But, of course, it depends on the age and personality of the children and the way they feel on that day and the star sign and whether they need to urinate in the direction of the wind, so intervene. if you need to.
5. While the food is cooking, play a game. While we wait for food, our kids love to play games like Would You Like or Predict or Tic-Tac-Toe. What if all else fails? “Just wait until you have finished talking,” says Anton.
6. When the newcomers come, the adults can talk. We find that as soon as the food arrives, our children often leave, and Alex and I mingle with adults. “I focus on my diet,” explains Toby. “Sometimes I get tired after a meal, and I sit down. One day I was eating a chicken sandwich and I fell asleep while I was EATING. My mom took a video. ”
7. Give the dice and ask for salt. “At home, you do not have to make your own decisions,” complains Toby. “Our parents usually don’t allow us to pick up salt, but if there are ice cream, they sometimes say you can get ice cream!”
8. Smile at the restaurant group and your dining companions. You do not know what people are going through – fighting the plague, raising a sweet child who is deaf or malnourished, lacking time to rest but not being able to book childcare, having a hard day – so go calmly to those around you. . Even if someone is watching their children while they are there, leave them alone. As my mother once told me: “People are in a whole new world. They have their own excuses and pressures to do things that may not be connected to you – and often do! Forgive others and let their little fools go unpunished. Maybe he really needs your mercy. ”
9. Speak generously, if possible. When the boys were younger, they accidentally dropped bread crumbs or towels, or dropped a drink, so I always tried to clean the table and add thank you to the tip.
What can you – or the children in your life – add to this list? I want to hear xoxo frog
* Anton was not allowed to call Diet Coke, haha.
PS Toby is Anton’s guide to NYC, as well as funny conversations with kids.
