How Do You Handle Going Out to Eat with Toddlers without Regretting It?

Going out to eat with a toddler really can feel like one of those parenting ideas that sounds so nice in your head, and then the second it’s actually happening, you’re sitting there regretting it. This was supposed to be a nice indoor activity, this was supposed to feel like a little treat, this was meant to be relaxing and fun, but it’s just not any of that. Oh, and it’s worse when people around you give you the stink eye; it just makes you want to die of embarrassment right then and there. Remember the days before kids, when it was relaxing to go out to eat?

How Do You Handle Going Out to Eat with Toddlers without Regretting It?


Now, maybe a part of it is the toddler and how they’re going to act, but there’s the public part of it that’s going to make it challenging, too. Like, it’s wondering if people are judging, wondering if the food will take too long, wondering if this is about to become one of those stories people tell about kids behaving badly in restaurants. That’s a lot of pressure for one meal, right?