I haven’t done a Blog Blast in awhile so I decided to join the Parent Bloggers Network and Burger King for their current Blog Blast: Are you THAT Family? They are looking for people’s “dinner out with the kids” horror stories: “tell us what you do now to avoid the food on the walls, juice on the table, and sanity gone totally out the window. Do you just not go out with them anymore? Do you bring a babysitter? Or do you stash some sort of magic toy that occupies them while you scarf down your meal?”

When our first son Ethan was born I started taking him out for lunch a lot and John and I never hesitated to bring him along when we’d go out for dinner. We were lucky and he was just SUPER good going out to eat. Our lucky streak continued after Ben was born and both boys still were great in restaurants. I was very proud of myself and thought we’d always be able to take the kids wherever we felt like to eat BUT then Jamie was born. At first all was still smooth sailing but then somewhere over the last year things started to get harder. Jamie is not quite as easy as the boys were and as a new 2 year old she is sort of hit or miss when we go out. I don’t think she is so terrible out to eat actually, its more just the combo of 3 kids that makes it much more challenging (and the boys aren’t as easy as they once were either). The more kids, the more chance of somebody getting the cranks! We’re not the family that everyone stares at because the kids are so terrible (at least we haven’t been yet!) but its like we’re on high alert sometimes trying to head off any trouble. Its not quite as enjoyable as in the past to go out as a family now and I definitely think we go out less but I think its important to keep going out and if we plan right ahead of time things work out well. I think when we have 4 kids things will be about the same but who knows!

I never was one to bring a big stash of diversions but those work for some families. I find one toy per kid and small snacks help bridge the gap between ordering and eating and I see nothing wrong with a few lollipops tucked away for emergencies! To me the biggest thing is to go out when all the nappers in the family had a good nap that day and to avoid crowded restaurants so there is no extra waiting. Its also important not to stress out! I mean what is the worst thing that can happen if the kids misbehave, you leave early? One of us has taken Jamie out to the car to leave a few minutes early while everyone else finished up and payed and it easily avoided her throwing a fit (but that has only happened twice so far).

So the whole point of this blog blast was to share your eating out horror stories but I didn’t do that since we have had no totally horrible behavior problems at a restaurant so far. We have had a whopping 3 incidents of d-word diaper leaking while out to eat since we’ve had kids, one pee accident and a minor choking/throwing up event but honestly those didn’t come to mind until just now since I was more thinking of misbehaving! Those gross moments weren’t so fun but they didn’t really ruin things either somehow (or not in my memory anyway)! So after doing this blog blast I am thinking we had better go out to eat very soon, I’m kind of craving IHop or maybe Japanese!

*If your family likes Burger King, they have new promotional kids’ meal toys by Crayola – perfect for boys or girls, and definitely worth tucking into your bag before heading out to eat.