Dining Dilemmas in Parenthood

I truly hope the rest of you have better luck than my husband and I, but our toddler makes mealtimes a challenge in parenting that should be chronicled on some sort of reality tv show (‘if you can get this child to eat, you could win a trip!’).   It really is that bad.  

Our precious little boy turns into Jack Jack from The Incredibles once food is set in front of him  Head turned, arms crossed, screaming, crying, whining, whimpering, smashing food, pushing food….his tactics of how NOT to get the food in his mouth goes on and on.  And it doesn’t matter what we put in front of him.  The food could be something he ultimately ate with relish 2 nights before, it could be chicken nuggets decked in peanut butter with chocolate on top….whatever; he won’t eat it just because he is supposed to.

Which means that when it comes to dining out, we have a very different perspective than most adults.  This was highlighted on our date night the other evening.  My husband and I went to a very nice restaurant.  And we sat in amazement at a family nearby that included 3 children, the oldest being around 5.  

Our incredulity was not that the family brought their kids to an expensive restaurant.  I mean, we prefer to enjoy fabulous gastro journeys with adult conversation and without having to pick crayons up off the floor.  But to each their own.  We were more amazed that the kids ATE the food set in front of them.  Without hesitating!  Or screaming!  Or crying!  We watched in total awe.  Well, awe and a little jealousy.  Do not all toddlers view mealtime as a power struggle?

We’re not trying to shield our child from dining out entirely.  We continue to fight the battle.  We know that he needs to learn proper restaurant and table manners.  But since dining out with our cutie-pie becomes a time to parent and teach life lessons, we are pretty picky about what sort of places we’ll take him.  Our criteria are, unofficially, something like this:  loud, cheap, loud, space for him to run around if we need, loud, and relaxed.

We have hit in “Chapelboro,” with success: Weaver Street Market, EVOS, The Loop, and Elmo’s (all of which you can get more information about at my blog).  But if you have any other restaurants that won’t mind a very cute yet very stubborn toddler in their midst, please let us know.  And my full sympathy to those other parents out there who also have picky eaters.  We can do it!