Eating in Restaurants With Kids

Eating in restaurants with kids does not have to be a chore. You can get everyone through it with having to leave early because they are tired, restless or causing a scene.

Here are some ways to inject some sanity into the process of eating out with your kids.

Keep them amused while waiting for food to arrive. I do this by keeping little plastic games and also crayons and papers in my purse. Younger kids can draw and older kids can play a game like hang man.

Don't bother dressing the kids up unless it is a very fancy restaurant. They will just feel all stiff and uncomfortable. The more comfy they feel the more likely your children are to stay still at the table.

Don't give your kids a load of soda before the food arrives. This makes them all hyper. Serve them water or milk until the food comes. Sugar on an empty stomach makes them hysterical and then sleepy.

Admonish kids who are negative about food. Once one kids says they hate a food the other younger kids will refuse to eat it too. Don't bring the neighbour's kid if he or she is a picky eater. Simply do not tolerate this type of behavior or they will all start going eww and not eat their expensive restaurant food.

I have found that if I want to finish a meal in a restaurant then I have to be served first. Sometimes I just say to the waiter – 'serve me first'. If they finish eating before me then I won't get to finish my meal.

Take the kids to the bathroom before you all sit down. Make them all go at once. Otherwise you will spend your meal going back and forth to the bathroom.

Don’t let your child order some pricey item she’s never had before without having her first try an appetizer or tasting portion. Teenagers are famous for this. They will tell you that they want a Reuben or Shrimp Marinara and then make a face once it arrives. Stick with what you know and you can't go wrong.

Sometimes if we are in a restaurant where the food is unusual, like a Chinese restaurant, it helps to tell the kids that it tastes like something they already know and love. This is where the old 'it tastes just like chicken' cliché comes in handy.

Mostly it is good to stick to kid friendly restaurants until your children are a little older. This means dining at MacDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, KFC and the like. There is no sense in stressing yourself by taking your kid somewhere fancy if you do not have to. Save that kind of restaurant for a date with your husband.

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Get Rid of Still and Standing Water!

There has been a lot of rain this Spring and if you live in certain areas then there are likely to be big pools of still water where kids play. These pools of water could be in the playground or in the parks. They could be in gutters on the road. It is common to find pools of water in your back yard or near eves troughs that have not been fixed. Still water also collects inside of old flowerpots that have been left out and deflated swimming pools.

Still water, which is also stagnant water is a big threat to public health. Yellow fever is a tropical disease that is spread by the yellow fever mosquito in parts of Africa and South America and the disease is spread by still water.

Yellow fever is not to be confused with Jungle Yellow Fever, which is a disease, spread from monkeys to mosquitoes to humans. Sometimes to make the differentiation the kind of yellow fever that is spread by mosquitoes only is referred to as Urban Yellow Fever. Jungle yellow fever is actually quite rare.

Yellow is much more common and it is spread by mosquitoes from human to human. The yellow fever mosquito that carries the disease is known as the Aides Egypt. These urban disease carriers make their home in still water in cities, towns and villages. Anything that can hold water such as discarded oiled drum and tires makes an excellent breeding ground for the yellow fever mosquito. As it rains frequently in both South American and African jungles they breed constantly in muck and puddles of still water.

There is no predicting whether or not a bite from a yellow fever mosquito is going to lead to a mild or life threatening illness. It really depends on the strains of infection that are around that particular year. The good news is that most cases of yellow fever, although uncomfortable are relatively mild.

Yellow fever gets its name from the fact that it can cause jaundice, which causes the whites of the eyes and the skin to turn yellow. Symptoms of a life threatening infection are high fever, headache, chills, backache, headache, muscle aches and vomiting. Sometimes the disease has a cycle where the person appears to get much better after a few days and then takes a severe turn for the worse, which can lead to shock, internal bleeding, liver and kidney favor. However this strain of the infection that is carried by the yellow fever mosquito is a lot rare.

Unfortunately there is no real specific treatment for yellow fever. People who contract it are advised to rest and drink plenty of fluids. Another essential part of the treatment is the use of mosquito repellents and nets to keep female yellow fever mosquitoes from biting the infected individual and spreading it to another human. Of course a big part of prevention is removing still water form the vicinity.

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