Hellobee Boards

This is a battle I chose not to fight with my kid. She's almost 2.5 and isn't good at sitting still for very long with books and coloring, so yes, we do take out a phone to let her watch Baby Einstein or Sesame Street if we're out if she starts getting antsy. It's not our default, but usually ends up that way. We go out pretty rarely as it is, and she barely watches TV as it is, so I don't really care if I need to do this in order to occasionally get a meal out. At home, we don't let her watch anything during meals, unless it's a very rare situation where she's very wound up from the day or something and it gets her to relax and eat.

We have a very strict no phones/tablets at the dinner table rule, whether at home or in a restaurant. It hasn't been an issue for us in terms of the little ones asking for it because they don't even realize having something like that during a meal is an option. If one of them gets antsy while we're out, we do resort to other measures, though, like promising some kind of dessert if they can make it through dinner quietly.

I was really shocked to go out with friends and see them give their kids a phone to stay quiet. We have attrocious at home mealtime behavior- we watch TV and use our phones to fact check. By the time baby comes meals at home and out will be electronic free.

Yes. We've fallen into a really bad habit of allowing this.

@rachiecakes: that's probably why my friends let their kids do it. It's just easier to have an adult conversation.

@MrsSCB: agree, headphones or no sound is preferable

We ate out alot growing up to the point I still ask for the kids menu and crayons to entertain myself sometimes. They're just fun! Are your techno kids entertained by the restaurant's activities?

We don't go out very often because my LOs can't sit still quietly for as long as it takes. We went out last week to celebrate my birthday (at my ILs' insistence - DH and I wanted to order in!) and let DD play with my phone for the first time during a meal out. It kept her seated and not screaming, so while I don't want to make it a regular thing, it did the trick the other night. We are pretty lax about screen time in general and DD can totally navigate to Endless Alphabet on her own on my phone.

There have been a few occasions at home when we've pulled out the tablet but that is only b/c we were in the midst of a huge meltdown at breakfast and it was the only thing to calm him down in order to get him fed and off to school. Otherwise, I'm very adamant that there be no electronics in restaurants. I'm sure there will be a time or two where I'll break that rule. I figure that people went out to dinner before electronics so we can do it today.

Generally no. But when we were on vacation this summer, I made an exception when we ate a few meals out with family that took an unusually long time due to the large number of people in our party. She just couldn't be reasonably expected to sit for that long.

No, we're trying to create an atmosphere where we do not look at any electronics while eating dinner. So far it's working.

Nope! No tv or phone (we don't carry our tablet out not do we use it that much!) during mealtimes or eating out. With the exception of football Sunday which is almost always playing in the background at some point in the day!

Rarely, I have to be pretty desperate. I always bring books, coloring stuff, and small snacks to kill time at restaurants. They don't need anything at home.

we don't have electronics at the table, despite the fact that we're generally lax with electronics. I think dinner time is the time that we have to connect the most, so I want us to be able to do that.

No, but I let my son pack a bag of stuff to entertain himself.

It depends on the situation. If it's just our family going out to eat, or it's a quick outing, we keep each other entertained. When we're going out with a larger group or other people and dinner takes a while, we'll use media as a last resort. The same way I don't expect kids to be able to sit still at school for extended periods of time without getting the wiggles, I also don't expect them to be able to do so (I'm talking about longer than 1-1.5 hours) without getting the wiggles, especially for my toddler son. So I guess it depends on what I realistically think they should be able to handle. And, what I think is okay for my friends/dinner guests to deal with (since it's their meal out too).

She is good at restaurants and we usually choose ones where we don't have to wait very long. Sometimes when we are desperate we will let her look at pics.

She doesn't watch anything at home. I don't know how other kids are able to watch and eat at the same time. Mine would just watch and not eat anything.

Yup. She does well for the first 20 minutes or so (we color, play games, etc) but once she starts to get antsy, we let her watch a show so we can finish eating.

Not yet. LO loves food and is fascinated by restaurants. We've only gone out to eat as a small group though at non busy times.

Nope, never. I didn't want to raise a child who couldn't sit still through a meal. Certainly not at home while we're having a family meal. We required her to act in proper, age appropriate ways - meaning that when she was too little to sit still we walked around with her for a portion of the time, and slowly decreased the time we spent doing that. Now we might do it for a few minutes before we get our food, but at four she's plenty old enough to sit and color. We're so militant about it that the few rare times when it might have been justified (dinner with a very old friend, etc) we didn't even think of it, and had a hard time.

Now on the weekends we'll often eat breakfast while watching cartoons. But dinner is always family meal time, and that is sacred. I reserve the games on my phone for really special things - like when my favorite band played a free afternoon all ages concert, and I took her.

We haven't had to use this yet, and I'd like to avoid it to keep it from becoming a pattern. But if for some reason she were really disruptive and we couldn't leave, I'd consider it.