Eating out with the family
Keeping the children, your teens and the grown-ups happy when you want to eat out.
For birthdays and other special events, gathering round a table to dine together produces some of the best memories – especially if you don’t have to do the cooking and the washing up! However, meals out can be expensive if the children leave half their food, and end up more like a war zone if bored teens can’t wait to get away. Here are three easy options to try without having to be the peacekeeper.
Eating out as a family
It’s true, some parents really do have children who enjoy fine dining in hushed restaurants. The little ones manage to eat what’s on their plate and leave the table without knocked over drinks and peas trodden into the carpet. However, these families are few and far between – and we’ll leave the super posh eateries to them…
• Eat al fresco
On warmer days, eating outside is a wonderful experience that makes us all feel a little more cosmopolitan. Restaurants with covered terraces or patio dining offer a chance for the whole family to break out of the hushed experience of the dining room that can make us all feel less relaxed. Don’t forget too, that the increasing number of ‘high-end’ shopping malls around the country (for example Westfield, in London) have indoor avenues of restaurants where you can ‘eat outside’ within a safe, off-street environment, away from traffic fumes.
• Do it yourself
Find a restaurant near you that allows you to build your own meal from a choice of smaller dishes – like sushi or tapas, or make your own pizza. It’s part of the entertainment, and this way younger children don’t have to eat their way through a too-big plate of one main course. Plus older children and teenagers can feel more independent.
• Park cafés
We’re not talking about somewhere to get a coffee and an ice cream, but the kind of park cafés that offer a full menu and even serve wine for adults. There are more and more lovely restaurants opening in larger cities parks and at grand houses (eg National Trust properties). The setting allows everyone to relax because it feels more casual. One of the usual problems with eating out as a family is that, while adults are happy to order food then chat over a drink while they wait, kids get restless. In a park the children can order then run around for a while before you need them back at the table.
Supersavvy tip:
At home, many families set a smaller table for little ones when they have guests over for lunch. When you’re out, consider booking a table next to yours and letting the teenagers sit near you but on their own. If you have two or more under-10s and just one teenager dining out, let your teen invite a friend. They’ll then feel more relaxed and you might even get them to join in with your conversation occasionally!