I think we have a good system when we go out to eat as a family.

At a sit down restaurant we usually pick what sodas we want first.  
When the drinks arrive we put in the kids meals.  
In a minute or two we put in the adult orders.  
The kids don’t have too long to wait, and we can help them get started before our food comes.  
My husband and I eat a lot quicker than the kids so we finish about the same time.

It works well unless the waiter/kitchen is slow. Monday night we stopped at a Perkins and everything was thrown out of whack by the slowness of the waiter and kitchen.  All 3 kids were finished by the time our food arrived.  The food was great; the timing was lousy.

If we were just out locally for the night it would have been no big deal.  Since we were on our way to New York it was annoying because we had a couple more hours of travel.  Maybe restaurants could have a section for locals and non-locals.

It wasn’t a problem when we drove south.  They knew we were just traveling through as soon as we opened our mouths.

Do you have any tips for eating out with kids?  Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear them!