You know what this is about. You have experienced and seen it. If you have kids, you know how hard it is to eat out in Tampa restaurants and expect them to remain calm and let you have your dinner in peace.
If you don’t have kids, you’ve probably seen chaos from the table next to yours or maybe you have a nephew or a niece or a friend’s kid that’s just impossible in restaurants.
The problem, of course, is not with these kids. These are manifestations of how they are at home when they are about to eat or their parents are about to have their dinners. You can correct these behaviors using a few simple tricks and you can then stop annoying every table in the restaurant where you dine.
Bring them to the table for dinner or lunch
Instead of trying to hide from your children when you are about to eat and they are preoccupied with something else, bring them with you to the table.
That means putting their high chairs or booster seats beside you and letting them play or eat on the dining table. Feed them at the same time you’re eating so they will get used to sitting calmly beside you when the family is dining together.
Diversify the toys you let them play with
If you keep letting them play with the same toy at dinner at your house, there’s a good chance they will eventually grow bored with it. Though we can stick to the same toy when inside the house, make sure to bring a different one if you’re dining out.
If your kid happens to be bored with the same toy and set it aside, he will latch his attention on whatever he laid his eyes on—napkins, fork, spoon, the salt-and-pepper shaker, the bread basket, etc. Have a contingency plan ready when the first toy does not work.
Communicate with them when you eat
Have you ever seen parents ignoring their children while they eat in restaurants? They let their kids run around the place or play with others’ food while they converse with whoever they are having dinner with.
They expect other people to be as tolerant as them with it comes to their children but the truth is, you cannot demand other people’s tolerance.
You are responsible for your kids. If you brought them with you to dinner, make them a part of the conversation. Talk to them when they are having tantrums and give them compliments when they are behaved and well-mannered.