Restaurants and my son don't mix

I never thought I would be one of those parents that let their children run wild in a restaurant. Until I had a child of my own.

I had the bright idea of having lunch out at a restaurant with another mom and her 14 month old son yesterday. We decided to go to Claim Jumper at noon. I figured lunch would go smoothly as it fit into my son's usual nap time and eating schedule. I thought Claim Jumper would be a good choice since it supplies a baby plate of food and seems to be a child appropriate place.

Lunch started out well. We were seated soon after we arrived to the restaurant. My son sat in his high chair and seemed to enjoy being out. He even ate the Trader Joe's O's I had brought for him for about five minutes. Then he lost interest in eating anything more and decided to squirm his way out of the high chair into a standing position. Since he was posing a danger to himself and started crying when I tried to make him sit back down in the high chair, I decided to let him sit in my lap. Unfortunately, my son did not want to sit still. At this point my food had not yet arrived and I was faced with a choice. Leave then and miss lunch and seeing my friend, or let my son sit on the floor and crawl/walk around the table. I choose to do the latter, but the more I think about it now, the more I think I should have left the restaurant at that point.

My son is 13 months old and cannot communicate past a very good "MOMMMMMY" when he wants milk or attention. I have no way of disciplining him because he doesn't even understand the word "no" at this point. When I am at home with Mark and he becomes difficult in his high chair and starts throwing food I promptly stop feeding him and let him down. For now I think the best solution is to stay away from sit down restaraunts for a while.

Of course my friends 14 month old son was a perfect angel through lunch and didn't complain one bit.


Kari Ann Hong, DDS
1000 Newbury Road, Suite 190
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
www.familycaredentists.com