I am sure all parents can relate at the stress involved in taking your children out for dinner. I am not talking about the child friendly places which permit kid goofy behavior. But the nice sit down places with proper cloth napkins and non plastic silverware.

As my readers must now be aware I travel with a circus, in respect to my children, they are a fun bunch but unfortunately their hilarious antics of funny noises, goofy faces and pretend ninja moves goes up a notch when the group is out in public.

The other day meeting our friends for dinner at a lovely Indian place turned out to be disastrous. As the adults were taking about the state of the tampered fuel or how many delegates REALLY accompanied our Olympic hopefuls, out of the corner of my eye I could see that my youngest had emptied all the toothpicks in their holders and was involved in some dangerous art project, while the other two were trying out their new karate moves which resulted in flying cutlery, almost broken wine glasses and askewed table cloth.

Of course the silent scary mum voice and the dangerous stare did dispel the chaos for sometime but I think I also scared the public who kept looking at me like I was the mysterious woman at the circus!

Its not a walk in the park, BUT here are some suggestions of how to have a peaceful dinner with your kids in tow: 

Have the Talk – Before you leave the house explain to your children where you are going and what is expected of them. Reiterate the need for proper table manners and behavior. Don’t leave it to when you get to the restaurant to give the speech, getting their attention will be as near impossible getting a bucketful of rain these days.

Explain the inside voice – Explain to your children shouting is not permitted in public places and ask them to talk quietly. I always say the ‘magical quiet voice’ and that does the trick.

Restaurant Kit – Bring a small activity pack to keep them entertained.

Choose the spot – If with smaller children, when at the restaurant choose a table that won’t disrupt the other diners, to avoid the ‘you are a horrible parent stare’, if your little one does act up.

Take cutlery – when the children were really tiny I have been known to take their plastic cutlery to avoid breakage and medical emergencies incurred with sharp knives or forks.

Timing – don’t go out to dinner when you know its way past your child’s bedtime and they are tired and sleepy, that’s just a tantrum disaster waiting to happen.

Reward Behavior – This works great with older kids, at the end of dinner reward them for their good behavior, kids work well with bribery and in this case the odd desert is okay.

So these are just some tips to prevent all parents from turning into moles and hiding out in their houses, it’s not a smooth operation but after awhile you get used to the chaos and the kids settle down and you’ll be making lovely out to dinner memories with the family. CHEERS!

By Mayuri Jayasinghe