Eating out for meals (shabbos and/or yom tov)

amother

Sun, Oct 08 2006, 10:53 pm

It's nice to get invited out and spend time with freinds but I really don't know how to handle it. It almost feels like we go out and then spend the whole time chasing after the baby. I might as well do that at home!
We made a "rule" that we won't be going out for nighttime meals but even day meals are becoming a pain.
How do you handle it? I just get so stressed out not being in my own environment.
Staying home for every meal is an option of course, but does anyone have tips or thoughts on eating out for meals with kids? Do you go out for meals when your kids are any age? Do you not get stressed by it all?

Lots of q's, I guess I'm rambling.

elkayed

Sun, Oct 08 2006, 11:08 pm

I have that too. My son is crawling everywhere and some homes are not baby-proof...I make myself nuts to watch him every second from steps, plants and what not. Sometimes I just say noto invitations...but sometimes I don't want to cook or I can't say no...so I chase my kid all over and count down the minutes!

ceo

Thu, Oct 12 2006, 10:32 am

I totally agree that eating out is often more of a hassle. Also, it becomes difficult if my kid is getting cranky and the meal is shlepping out.

Night meals, we never eat out, unless it's a special occasion (ie- a sheva brachos, or someone we know is visiting, etc). If that's the case, then we arrange to have a pack n play at the hosts house- either their's or we bring one over before shabbos.

We often eat out at lunchtime. I have a fold-up booster seat that I got at Target that I bring with me. I also explain to my hosts in advance that I might have to excuse myself early if my child is getting cranky.

Actually, a friend of mine told me that she just basically stopeed eating out all together, for the time being. I invited her for a lunch seuda recently and she told me, "We're finding it hard to be out of the house at that time of day." Her kids were just too cranky to push off their nap until 2pm, and then, by the time they got home, the kids were overtired and wouldn't sleep.