This past weekend hubby and I went out for the night for the first time without the baby. My aunt kept the girls overnight and a good friend who has baby-sat for us since Honeybun was a baby watched Doodle. It’s never been easy for me to leave my babies for the first time. Honeybun was a few days old when I left her home with hubby while I ran an errand and I cried the whole way there. Luckily the first time I left her with hubby to go to work and the first time I left her at the childcare center I was running late so was too stressed to be sad. I’ve since learned this is the best way to leave my kids, in a rush so I don’t think about missing them. This is exactly how this first time leaving Doodle went, I was so behind schedule getting ready that I had to hurry out and didn’t have time to think about missing him.
I’m the type of mom that prefers to just take my kids places with us, especially if not taking them means paying someone to watch them. And with Doodle still nursing and refusing the bottle, it’s even harder to justify leaving them behind. But when we got invited to a charity gala event, we jumped on the opportunity to go to a nice (free!) dinner without the kids.
Our children have been to plenty of fancy dinners, though. Our first anniversary, Honeybun was 2 ½ months old and went to The Melting Pot with us. She spent the entire dinner sleeping in her car seat and watching the ceiling fan when she woke up. She was a pro at restaurants by that time, her first time going out she was only 9 days old. Sugarplum attended many nicer restaurants with us in Dublin and while a baby at nice restaurants is rare there, she was never a problem.
We’ve found by taking our children out starting when they are young and keeping a relaxed attitude about it, they have adapted well and generally know how to behave in restaurants. I remember growing up my mom always has a “restaurant bag” with crayons, coloring books and other things to keep us entertained. While I’ve not adopted the “restaurant bag”, I have found in order to ensure a good experience, you do need to make sure to have the essentials.
The “essentials” is different for every child and every age but is basically anything you would need to keep your child entertained and happy anywhere they have to sit nicely such as on an airplane or at the Doctor’s office. For my girls the crayons and coloring sheets provided by most restaurants is usually enough but I keep a few pens in my purse as well just in case the restaurant we go to doesn’t have crayons. For the baby we now are sure to take a burp cloth (which he loves to snuggle and chew on) as well as a few small toys which can keep him entertained while we eat.
It’s also important to make sure your kids have a proper, comfortable place to sit. This took us a few times to get down and has changed over time. The first time we took Honeybun out we look her strap on high chair and while it worked, we realized it wasn’t the easiest option and started using the buggy or putting her car seat in a booth. With Sugarplum we also used the buggy but a few times when we went to nicer restaurants close to home I carried her in the sling to walk there and brought her Bumbo chair. Highchairs are great once the kids are big enough to sit up unassisted but my girls never cared much for boosters, preferring to sit on their knees on a regular chair.
When eating out, we also tend to be more lenient with some of our meal time rules. We are more likely to hold the baby or let the girls sit with us until our food comes and then everyone returns to their own chairs. Honeybun never really needed us to hold her at restaurants whereas Sugarplum always wanted to be held unless she was sleeping and Doodle is hit or miss. But we are stricter on other rules like requiring them to stay sitting and use quiet voices. Our ultimate goal is for everyone to have a good meal and experience including the staff and other guests around us and are careful to not go out to nice places if our children are not in a mood or stage to do well with it.
