190. Teach Your Children Well: Restaurant Manners

190. Teach Your Children Well: Restaurant Manners

From Elevating Motherhood by Lori Beth Auldridge

April 4, 2026 · 54 min · Episode 190

About this episode

This episode discusses how to instill good restaurant manners in children to create a peaceful dining experience.

If you’re trying to build a family culture where eating out feels peaceful, connected, and screen-free—but aren’t sure how to get there—this episode is for you. We’re a family of foodies…plus we travel a lot. Based on those two things alone, we end up eating out often. Almost every single time we eat out with our now 12, 10, 9, and 4 year old, we get complimented on the behavior of our children. I’m not saying that to brag. I’m saying it because it signaled something for me…according to many servers at these restaurants all across the country, our children are not the norm. They don’t often see kids off screens at the table or kids that order for themselves or kids that make eye contact. And that’s a shame. Those 3 things should be the bare minimum expectations that we have for children in restaurants in America. Bare minimum. Even our 4-year-old does these things. Examples: *Airport in Denver. He couldn’t get over it. * The biscuit shop in Nashville. “How do you do it?” Have a realistic goal based on their age * The goal is not perfection. A successful dinner out is not a flawless dinner. Food is going to fly. Chairs are going to fall over. Silverware is going to be dropped…

More episodes of Elevating Motherhood

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Elevating Motherhood podcast page.