Lately, it is difficult to find in a restaurant a child who is calm without a smartphone or tablet in his hands. Many parents give them to stay quiet, quiet and not mess, because in some places they can look bad for us to enter with children.
The truth is that keeping them sitting, without shouting and fairly calm is not a simple task. It's normal, they're kids, so we'll give you Five ideas to entertain children in a restaurant without using technology.
1) Talk about the place and the menu
The first minutes you can keep them entertained talking about the place, (the decoration, the environment, the views, etc.) and the options offered by the menu, the specialties of the house and decide what they will ask for.
It is a good excuse to talk about the different foods, the ways of cooking, their origin and expand the culinary knowledge of children. Now, with so many cooking programs for children, it is a theme for which they show special interest.
2) Propose conversation topics
For convenience, many parents give the mobile phone to the children so they are quiet, but also, willingly or unintentionally, they are isolated from the family table.
If we all go out to eat together, you have to involve the children in the food, not leave them out. Propose current issues, topics that interest them or make plans about the future. You can talk about the next trip, the next vacation or any other situation that lets them know that their opinion matters to us.
If you listen to them, no matter how old they are, you will be surprised at what the children have to say. I understand that with young children it is more complicated to give their opinion, but you can also do the exercise.
3) Draw and paint
It is entertainment, but without the need to be "plugged in." My little daughter (5 years old) is quite restless (to put it in some way ... it's an earthquake) and loves to draw and paint. When we go to a restaurant it usually takes a backpack with a notebook and some colored pencils.
Ask for suggestions and draw. Draw the place, the tables, the meals. Then we make a contest of what has been the winning drawing. In this way, it remains entertaining, but it is not isolated from the family table, something that electronic devices do happen.
4) Traditional games
As in the car, there are very simple traditional games that children love and you can play perfectly at the table of a restaurant, such as the see-see, riddles, tongue twisters, stone, paper or scissors, etc ... Yes you have older children, you can play three in a row, the hanged man, puns, sudoku, etc ...
5) Choose a "kids friendly" site
Finally, and perhaps the most important thing you should consider before going to a restaurant with children, is choose a suitable place to go with children. Not because he believes that children do not have the right to go to any restaurant, which of course they have, but because there are places much friendlier than others for the little ones.
They don't like places where they can barely move or look at them badly if they raise your eyes, cry or get up from the table. On the other hand, there are more familiar restaurants that have a park where they can play, a patio or a room equipped for children. When choosing, keep in mind that it is a place where they also feel comfortable.
