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What a Treat! We're Going out to Eat!
Help Your Preschooler Form Proper Social Eating Skills
By April E. Clark
"I would say that since eating out is such a big part of our culture, parents should start bringing their children out to eat from infancy – in family-friendly restaurants of course," she says. "This way, babies will begin to get used to the noise and activity of restaurants and friends' houses. It probably would be setting kids up for failure to expect them to behave in a restaurant if they hadn't been exposed to those types of situations much previously."
Haas says that with several years of social eating experience under his belt, her older son not only behaves well when dining out, but ventures outside of the kids menu more often than not. "He has always had more adult eating habits than most kids," she says. "He loves mussels, crab legs, pretty much any type of seafood. He also likes barbeque ribs while my other kids eat mostly chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and quesadillas."
Judi Johnston Vankevich, president and founder of Manners Club & Life Skills International, is an advocate of parents playing a key role in educating their children on manners. She speaks at schools, churches and on radio programs to promote The Manners Club, a free program where children pledge to practice politeness and manners, honor and obey their parents, respect elders and authority figures, be kind and practice The Golden Rule.
