TEN TIPS TO MAKE THE NIGHT
A GREAT EXPERIENCE
No! Don't blanch - you can enjoy the luxury of fine dining - fine dining with kids and still enjoy your night out with great wine and food.
Fine dining with kids can be an enjoyable and a not so embarrassing experience. A little pre-planning goes a long way.
So, let's take a look of how you, dad and mom, can make fine dining with kids pleasurable and no one leaves with red faces:
1. Of course, for fine dining at a classy restaurant, you'll need to make a reservation and the time in between, let's say, a week is a great time to give 'fine dining 101'a workout at home. Practise! Practise! Practise! Restaurant etiquette - you know, no elbows on the table, no slurping, shouting, tossing bread rolls or other embarrassing episodes. Teach the kids to say please and thank you and to treat the waiting staff as friends and advisers who are there to make that fine dining a great experience. For the older kids, practise the correct way to use cutlery: fish knives for fish, steak knives for steak; water glasses for water and so on. Another great lesson and this will serve well in later years is how to order food. When making that reservation, ask for a corner table for privacy where you and the family can have last-minute practise.
2. When you arrive at the restaurant and have parked. Talk to the kids how to best behave. Remember what we said about shouting and unruly behaviour - not on.
Other people are using that restaurant for their fine dining and some do not like seeing families dining with kids. Do not give them an excuse to complain.
Consideration for others cannot be stressed enough in your fine dining with kids a great adventure.
3. Nature is going to call and the rest room is going to be a stopping point - perhaps frequently. Yes, it's a real hassle and it does distract other diners. It has been said time and time again: "Make sure you go before we go out." Let your fine dining and dining with kids be hassle-free. Bear in mind, though, nature does not or cannot wait. When dining with kids - the old Scout motto, Be Prepared is paramount.
4. Fine dining at a restaurant is normally a dinner - evening experience, sometimes between seven and nine pm, beyond a kid's bedtime or mealtime. If the restaurant is popular your fine dining with kids may involve longer wait time than normal. Some folks get embarrassed about bringing in little snacks such as carrot sticks or other little nibblies. Don't be. The little ones are going to get a tad restless and invariably cranky, so a little pre-dinner snack is quite in order. Remember you are dining with kids and their needs are different. Ask your waiting team member to offer bread sticks or other nibbles if you did not bring your own.
5. You don't have to rely on snacks - activities such as colouring books or word puzzles can keep the children's minds active. However, a little judicious planning, such as asking the kids what they would like to eat as starters and/or a main meal, before you arrive at the restaurant, saves more red faces and hassles. Above all, you know what your kids can eat and it is advised not to let them experiment with unknown or overly spicy foods. Après fine dining with kids - that is midnight trips to the family bathroom takes the gloss off the fine dining, especially dining with kids, experience.
6. Kids are curious and the trip to the fine dining restaurant is going to result in them experimenting with things new to them. Maybe candles, sugar packets, unusual looking cutlery - such as a bread or fish knife. Keep them out of harm's way and for the very young child, a bib, feeding bottles or his or her favourite 'sippy' cup - and please, use the high chair safely. Dining with kids no matter how very young, can and should be an enjoyable fine dining experience.
7. When the meal arrives ensure the kids get served first. In the case of the little ones, you can cut the portions up for better eating. Ask your wait staff member to have the beverages with the meal - kids love to drink with their meal. When they've finished ensure the server clears the empties out of the way. In dining with kids, a little leeway is needed.
8. If the kids are getting restless and have an attack of the "let's go, dad/mom." Do not sit there for too long a period. You've eaten and enjoyed the fine dining and dining with kids. So! If needs be, skip your dessert, I'm sure there's something at home or along the way that would compensate. If this is the first time you have been dining with kids - fine dining style, it's going to be easier next time.
9. Be Patient. That's the name of the game when dining with kids. Don't let the little incidents faze you - kids pick up the vibes in an instant. Fine dining with kids means never have to say you're sorry. An occasional 'whoops' is quite okay.
10. Fine dining. An elegant restaurant. What a way to spend an evening. Fine dining with kids can be made all the more pleasurable. All it takes is a little planning and lots of patience.
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