When the eldest was still an infant, my much-better-half and I agreed to some ground rules involving restaurants. We agreed we would never tempt fate at any sit-down restaurant until demo runs were performed first.

Basic behavior is, of course, instilled at the home dining room table. Then we stepped up to the grandparent’s homes. Also in the lead up to dining out were test runs at aunt and uncle’s homes, cousin’s homes, etc. Certainly, if a reasonable level of behavior can’t be maintained in someone else’s home, we weren’t going to try out a restaurant with other diners.

At the beginning, we started small. Of course, McDonald’s, but then a diner or similar, like Denny’s or Friendly’s. When we were comfortable with each of their behaviors, then came Perkins.

Once we’re beyond the McD stage of eateries, we were cognizant of the fact that if our boy ever got into any sort of tantrum that couldn’t be hushed in a moment or two, we’d stand up, lay an appropriate number of $20 bills to cover the tab and head for the door! Believe me, this only happened once with our first born, and even though he was crying the way home, he never threw a diner-tantrum again.

Did this mean we sacrificed dining out at fancy places for a while? Were many dinners ordered through the driver’s window instead of a waitstaff? Sure, but that’s not a huge hit when compared to being able to take our kids places without the ‘ordeal’ you described.

Charlie on the PA Turnpikes latest blog nuggle..Does everyone know what time it is??