Dining with kids

[SusieC]

We are taking our 6 year old boys on a cruise in March and we have really been working on table manners and have had a couple of "practice" formal dinners. They are doing very well in terms of manners but they just don't have the patience to sit through an hour long dinner. I had read in another thread about someone bringing a dvd player to the dining room for the kids to watch while they finished their meal and I wondered what people thought about that. After reading that thread I wondered if it would be acceptable for my boys to bring their GameBoys to the dining room to play (with volume turned off). Would that be acceptable or frowned upon?

I had also read that families sometimes had the waiter serve the children's entrees first then left the dining room to bring a child to AO then returned to finish their own meal. Is this a common occurence? Are waiters used to having children rush through a meal to head to the kids club for 7:00? I certainly don't want to increase the waiters workload but I understand that there are some great activities scheduled for the kids in the evenings that I'm sure my kids won't want to miss. Just wondering what others have experienced when dining with children. Thanks for your input.

[suzeyQ]

The Gameboys wouldn't bother me as long as the sound was turned off. I'd rather see them playing video games than getting restless and showing their restlessness in other ways!

[cb at sea]

I would imagine that alot would depend on your tablemates, if any. If you are at a table alone, none of you concerns should be a problem, but if you have others sitting with you, well... You are doing main seating, aren't you? I think dinner may be served a bit faster there--2nd seating usually takes about an hour and a half--at least we have found it to be a little more leisurely. That's probably too much to ask of a 6 year old.

[Anngeojes]

We were on the Voyager with 3 six year olds a couple of weeks ago. We never even tried to take them to the Dining Room. Previous experience lead us to know that it just took to long for them.

 

Instead, we fed the kids in the Windjammer and took them to AO at 7pm. Once we dropped them off we had a cocktail and ate. We used Portofino twice and the Windjammer the other nights.

 

As crazy as it sounds it worked out very well and no one in our party missed the dining room. We actually got to see more of the shows than we have in the past.

 

Good luck.

[Merion_Mom]

We were on the Voyager with 3 six year olds a couple of weeks ago. We never even tried to take them to the Dining Room. Previous experience lead us to know that it just took to long for them.

 

Instead, we fed the kids in the Windjammer and took them to AO at 7pm. Once we dropped them off we had a cocktail and ate. We used Portofino twice and the Windjammer the other nights.

 

As crazy as it sounds it worked out very well and no one in our party missed the dining room. We actually got to see more of the shows than we have in the past.

 

Good luck.

This is the PERFECT plan.

[stargate fan]

Since you asked, here is my answer:

I do not believe that electronics of any kind belong at a table, be it on a cruise ship, a restaurant, or at home. I think it's tacky and it looks like the parents are trying to ignore/shut up their kids. The kids get mesmerized by the games and miss out on wonderful opportunities to talk, learn, etc.

We have two sons who are now almost 18 and 15 1/2. They were taught table manners, just like you are doing with your boys. (Nice job, BTW.) For us, though, part of that was learning to sit through a meal like a gentleman.

Now I have a question for you...do you want to have the boys at dinner with you every night? I have read where parents feed their kids earlier at the Windjammer then drop them off at AO and go to the dining room on their own. Maybe that's a compromise you can make...have them eat earlier a couple of nights and spend more time at AO in exchange for a couple of grown-up meals in the dining room.

[PhoenixCruiser]

We were on the Voyager with 3 six year olds a couple of weeks ago. We never even tried to take them to the Dining Room. Previous experience lead us to know that it just took to long for them.

 

Instead, we fed the kids in the Windjammer and took them to AO at 7pm. Once we dropped them off we had a cocktail and ate. We used Portofino twice and the Windjammer the other nights.

 

As crazy as it sounds it worked out very well and no one in our party missed the dining room. We actually got to see more of the shows than we have in the past.

 

Good luck.

 

I like this idea too. Heck we don't like taking 1 - 2 hours for dinner, I cannot imagine children sitting through it :D

 

Have fun planning!

 

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[zotzer]

I was on a cruise this past December with 7 adult family members, and my 5, 6, and 7 year old niece and nephews.

 

Our waiter did feed them first. The moment we showed up each night, he arrived with a big bowl of fruit for each of them. They also had a special kids menu, and we let them eat *whatever* they wanted. The youngest's favorite was pizza and french fries. The oldest's favorite was peanut butter and banana sandwiches (which his mother was shocked that he ordered, as he is picky). One night, he had three of them!!

 

The kids would get a little restless towards the end of dinner, but nothing unmanageable (they had crayons and stuff available). This is where the wonderful part came in....we had a fabulous waiter and head waiter!!! Every night, just about the time that kids get restless, they would come over to the table and do a special magic trick for the kids. The promise of the "trick of the night" became good leverage when the restless syndrome started. "You guys be good, or we will tell Yatin 'no magic trick'". :)

 

I think it's important that kids learn that there are some things in life they just need to deal with while behaving appropriately. I'd say they actually enjoyed the whole thing, acting like little grown-ups and doing their best to fit in with the atmosphere.

 

Of course, nothing in life is perfect, but I'd venture a guess that those around us would have described them in a positive light. A rare occassion of minor acting up by a child who has been a model citizen all week tends to be tolerated pretty well by people. They are more impressed by the overall great behavior than upset about the minor setbacks. :)

 

Tracy

[JulieMcCoy]

I think it's great that you've been practicing table manners in advance - I wish all parents did that! Haven't been on RCI yet, but on Disney the children's menus are the coloring-puzzle type, and the 5-year-old who was at our table (not part of my family) amused himself with those quite well. He also would tell us about his day and kept us all laughing with some of his stories. The servers did the occasional magic trick for him. His meal was served at the same time as our appetizers, but he still stayed at the table the whole time, and we had late seating, so it was a long meal. Only time he left was the night he threw up at the table...but that's another story! I'd say give one meal a try to see whether they like it, with a backup plan of kids' clubs if they get too bored.

[SusieC]

Thank you all for your replies. In a perfect world, I would like to have them spend every evening with us in the dining room (except the night we go to Chops!) behaving like perfect angels but I realize that I would be setting myself up for failure and must be prepared to make some compromises. We do have main seating and I would like the boys to join us in the dining room at least during formal nights (we bought suits specifically for the cruise). I want them to enjoy the cruise as much as we do so I don't want to keep them away from any kids club activities that they really are interested in doing. I suppose that I will have to play it by ear a bit and make decisions on a day by day basis. I truly appreciate everyone's views on the Gameboys. I don't like the idea of bringing them but I really hate the idea of disturbing other diners. Well we still have 39 more practice dinners before the "big ship" so perhaps I'll have them molded into perfect little gentlemen diners by then! Thanks again!

[Shar27]

Just got off the Explorer with my 3 children, aged 5, 7 & 11. We ate in the dining room every night and it was fine. The waiters were great and had pictures and crayons for the kids everynight.

 

When my 5 year old was yawning and looked like she would fall asleep one night, our waiter put two chairs together and told her to like down. I was very surprised, but it was his idea and she went to sleep.

 

Otherwise, the kids were fine. They went to AO afterwards, but it doesn't open until 7:00.

 

Sharonna

 

p.s. I'm sure a gameboy would be fine once in a while.

[shirleygr]

We try to eat dinner together every night at home, so why not while we are on vacation? We have always gone to the dining room for dinner. Our children enjoy being fussed over by the servers. And after the first night, the waitstaff seems to always have the chocolate milk ready when we sit down. We do have their dinners served with the appetizers and then bring them to the kids area when they are done, usually between entree and dessert. This has worked well for us and I believe it is very important for children to understand proper behaviour in social situations. I feel if I don't expose them to this as children, how will they know how to behave as adults?

BTW, I think a gameboy (muted) would be fine if they start getting bored. I usually bring a book or 2 for mine to look through as well if the coloring isn't keeping them amused. I have a wide range of ages, from 17 down to 3 and can tell you it does get easier as they get older. Have fun and don't stress about it.

[sweety]

We were on the Legend last week with my 3 & 7 year old daughters. They ate with us in the dining room each night at main seating and did remarkably well. Not perfect, but not terrible either. I think twice, they finished early and one of us took them up to the kids room while we finished our meal (which often lasted until about 8). We did have a table to ourselves sort of off to the side and INCREDIBLE wait staff. The head waiter let us know that they usually serve a leisurely meal, but if we preferred for things to come out faster to just let them know. The girls loved being doted on and being brought out special plates of berries when they were available. They are picky eaters, but always found something on the kids menu - chicken fingers, pizza or spaghetti usually. The 7-year-old went with me to the napkin folding class on our first at-sea day and enjoyed practicing her technique the rest of the week.

 

I applaud you for practicing manners ahead of time! We had talked a lot about it too, but still had to use frequent reminders.

 

Good luck and enjoy yourselves!!