Road Trips and Restaurants

Just because you have children doesn’t mean that you can no longer eat at a restaurant. The experience will definitely be different than pre-kids, but with some planning it can also be enjoyable. Here are some suggestions from other parents who have taken their children to restaurants, and survived.

• Go early, for better service, avoid waiting for a table
• Choose family restaurants
• Choose noisy restaurants
• Choose restaurants where children can be entertained: ceiling fans, fire places, fish tanks, open kitchen, other babies
• After ordering, take children for a walk around the restaurant or outside
• Make reservations if possible
• Order appetizer as child’s meal
• Share your meal with a child (don’t need to order “kid’s meal”), ask for an extra plate

How to Eat your Food While it is still Hot

• Take turns eating with other adults
• Have your meal brought later or earlier
• Have you Child’s meal brought earlier
• Make sure your child is hungry, give only small amounts of snacks before the food arrives.

What to Bring

Portable high chair (Upside-down wooden restaurant high chairs will hold a car seat)
• “Floppy” which fits over high chair and shopping cart
• Sippy cup
• Toys (on rings)
• Small snacks to eat before food arrives or if child finishes first
• Disposable or reusable mat for table
• Bib
• Wipes

Keep it Safe

• Move most items out of child’s reach as before child sits down
• Don’t put a tray down within child’s reach
• Check food temperature, may be too hot
• Check for hot plates, especially in Mexican restaurants
• Cleanliness of table tops, highchairs and floor
• Stability of restaurant high chair

How to Deal with the Mess

• Pick up after your child
• Tip more, don’t forget the bus person who is likely to do most of the cleaning
• Use a bib with a catch pocket at the bottom
• If available, ask for a paper drop cloth


Long Car Trips (over 2 hours)

• Bring both healthy and fun foods. Bring foods that are new and fun to help with interest. (If your child has food allergies, do not bring any new foods; you don’t want a reaction on the road).
• Pack paper towels, napkins or pre-moistened wipes.
• Let your children drink water freely, juice and other sweet drinks consumed for fun will also increase the need for more bathroom stops.
• Offering foods as a distraction is okay, but not too often, approximately every 1.5 -2 hours. Do not offer food 1.5-2 hours before you plan to have a meal or your child won’t be hungry.
• Do not use food as a reward for good behavior or take it away for undesirable behavior

Offer snacks that won’t stain when spilled
Crackers, cereal, cookies, fruit, vegetables, cheese, nuts and seeds (children over age 3), avoid dips, jelly, cream filled foods, foods in tubes or cups (yogurt, pudding, applesauce) and foods that melt such as popsicles and chocolate.

Choking
Avoid any potentially choking food, especially for children under age 3. Sit next to and observe a child under age 3 with all foods.

Choking foods include:
Hard candies and most fresh fruits and vegetables, chips, raisins, whole grapes, teething biscuits, and hard crackers

Keeping Food Fresh:
A cooler packed with ice or cold packs is ideal for car travel, especially in the summer. Frozen juice boxes or yogurt tubes can be used to keep other foods cold. Each child can be given an insulated lunch box with a variety of snacks and drinks. Perishable foods are not considered safe for eating if they have been at room temperature or above for more than 2 hours. (Perishable food in a hot car will be safe for an even shorter time).
If you are not traveling with a cooler filled with ice, limit snacks to those that are stored at room temperature:
Crackers, cereal, cookies, nuts and seeds (children over age 3), dried fruit, and hearty fruits and vegetables such as apples, carrots and oranges.

Stop to Eat Meals
• Children need breaks, to run, play and eat a real meal.
• Bring a blanket for a picnic or a plastic table cloth for public picnic tables.
• Eat the messy foods at meals: PB&J sandwiches, packaged applesauce, yogurt or pudding, anything with chocolate.
• Pack sandwich fixings such as bread, deli slices, tomatoes and condiments or bring crackers, cheese and fruit.
• Children like dips such as bean dip, salsa, hummus and salad dressings for crackers, chips, fruit slices and veggie sticks.
Finger foods for Traveling with Babies (Sit next to and observe an eating child under age 3 with all foods.)
• Cheerios or chex style cereals
• Oyster crackers
• Thin break sticks
• Pre-cooked, soft noodles
• Soft cooked beans
• Cooked rice, barley, quinoa, millet or couscous
• Small pieces of soft fruit: canned peaches, pears or apricots, fresh banana, melon, avocado or kiwi
• Canned or steamed peas, carrots, zucchini
• Grated cheese
• Pre-cooked pieces of potato, sweet potato or squash

Are You Feeding Your Child Too Much?

I recently read a study discovering that by age 5 children tend to eat what is on their plate, regardless of how they feel. Perhaps by this age children have heard "clean your plate" so many times that they just do. Or perhaps because when they are given a portion of food they assume this is how much they should eat. Ideally, a child should never be made to feel that they must eat, especially to please others. To create a healthy eater we must let children eat how much they need to eat to become sated ( a feeling of having enough). We can do this by either allowing children to serve themselves or by giving them very small servings (1-2 tablespoons) of foods. Let the child know that if they are hungry they can ask for more.

Sometimes a child allowed to self serve will serve too much. This may be because it is fun to move food from the serving bowl. If this is the case, feel free to step in and remind the child that we serve ourselves what we plan on eating. Let them know that they can practice serving after dinner, perhaps with a scoop in sand or dirt. Other children serve themselves too much food because they are very hungry and believe they will eat all the food on their plate. This happens often at my home. When we see extra food on a child's plate we remind them to take less next time, and that there will be more available if they need seconds. This is a trial and error process, so be patient.

Restaruants are notorious for serving us too much. "Single" servings are becoming so large, 20 years ago they would have been called extra large or jumbo. A hamburger with cheese plus fries may contain as many as 1600 calories; the total amount of calories needed per day for many women. As both children and adults regularly see these inflated portion sizes, we assume they are normal and eat them. Many studies have shown that the larger the portion the more we eat. We don't stop when we feel sated. People eat more chips from a warehouse store bag of snacks than from a grocery store bag. We even eat larger portions when we have large quantities of the food in the house.

I bring all of this to your attention as large portions make for large children and adults- not tall, but overweight or obese. One of the major changes you can make to help avoid obesity is to serve small portions at home or allow family style serving. When dining out, share entrees. Order 3 entrees and an extra plate for four people. Don't let the restaurant decide how much you need to eat. If you buy at warehouse stores, repackage the foods into smaller containers and put these smaller containers in your kitchen. Store the remainder out of sight. You'll save calories and money too.