The final of our four criteria for successfully eating out with your kids is mastering the art of distraction! Distractions can be anything from the coloring page menu and crayons most restaurants in the DC area hand out to their youngest patrons, to the ice in your water glass. My oldest loves to draw in my work notebooks with a pen.
You can purchase things such as tear-off place mats with activities, which will keep your kids busy at least until the main course arrives. We did purchase at one point, the disposable stick on place mats. But our kids ended up being entertained with pealing the place mat off the table...again and again. Still worked as a great distraction though!
We keep two tricks up our sleeve for last resort distractions. The first is I will hold my half drank water glass (and you thought I was kidding) and let the baby/toddler play in the ice water. I swear this at one time or another has kept them entertained for 30 minutes. This also works best outside, which is why we said outdoor seating is the optimal accommodation.
The second one is, of course, your smart phone or tablet. Even the mere mention of "would you like to play with my phone?" sometimes will encourage them to go back to coloring, or playing with the napkin. This occurs though around 4 years old.
Also, remember that this is an opportunity for you kids to learn acceptable social behavior in public. My oldest will begin to say "Mommy I'm so bored can we go yet." I respond with "No, not yet we have to ask the server for the check." Sometimes, I "task" her with keeping her eye out for the server, passing by our table so that we can politely ask for the check. Works like a charm!
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