Photo Friday: Keeping Kids Busy in a Restaurant

Eilan keeps busy in a restaurant

It's tempting to pull out an iphone while you're waiting for a meal to arrive, but I'm a big fan of finding ways to stay busy without one. Here's 3yo Eilan practicing his engineering skills with some creamer containers!

What is Photo Friday?

• Post a travel photo on your site. It can be about any topic, as long as it is G-rated.
• The focus of the post should be on your photo.
• You don't need to be a professional photographer (I'm not), but do showcase your best work, and make it big enough to see well!
• It's nice to include a few sentences about the photo, but it is not required.
• Link back here so that your readers can see all the other great Photo Friday posts.

  Filed Under: photo-friday

  9 comments | Posted on January 11, 2013 | Save to del.icio.us
  
  

   Subscribe to our feed

  Subscribe by email:

  Comments

  1. Lisa on January 11, 2013 at 11:33 a.m.
     

     It's amazing what you can do with a few creamers and sugar packets, isn't it? Happy New Year!!

  2. Alyson on January 11, 2013 at 11:54 a.m.
     

     Totally agree with you, I would never give them a phone to play with, nor, as I have seen, a portable DVD player. They are as much part of the eating out experience as the adults are, I don't want to zone them out.

  3. Keryn @ Walking on Travels on January 11, 2013 at 12:17 p.m.
     

     Ha! I have the exact same photo of Dek last year in Hawaii doing that at a restaurant. Love the creamer stacking. Although I will say if we are eating out late I will give Dek my phone AFTER he is done eating, especially if we are linger over dessert and chatting.

  4. eileen @ FamiliesGo! on January 11, 2013 at 12:58 p.m.
     

     I think people underestimate kids ability to make conversation, and if you don't give them opportunities to sit and talk with you then they don't develop that ability. I bring crayons and stickers to restaurants and sometimes play-do (handy if service is slow), but all that stuff goes away when the food comes out. Then we eat and talk. I think plying kids with electronics can deprive them of life skills... and the opportunity to build with creamer containers.

  5. Tonya @ The Traveling Praters on January 11, 2013 at 1:26 p.m.
     

     Hey, it looks like you were drinking a lot of coffe!! :)

     My kids used to play with the creamers all the time too. And the jelly, and the butter. Whatever would occupy there time until the food arrived.

  6. Terumi on January 15, 2013 at 7:33 a.m.
     

     I actually remember playing with creamers with my parents in restaurants and drawing on paper napkins. I try to carry little notepads and pens in my purse. I'm not a big fan of Ipads at the table.

  7. Jesse on January 16, 2013 at 12:28 a.m.
     

     Are those Yogurt cups? I think I might try that for my 5 year old especially when we go to restaurants that took too long to cook for a whole family order.

  8. Debbie on January 17, 2013 at 9:54 a.m.
     

     Jesse,

     They're creamer containers that you sometimes see on the table in a coffee shop or diner.

  9. Malaysian Meanders on January 18, 2013 at 6:27 a.m.
     

     I let my kids play with the sugar packets, but I also feel kind of guilty that the packets look so rumpled and manhandled when we're done with them. We've even drawn entire cities on the tabletops that are covered in butcher paper and used the packets as cars.