It was hard when I had to tell my kids that I thought Chipotle was just okay.
My daughter dropped her fork.
My son did a spit take.
She was genuinely shocked.
He was playing it up for effect.
I appreciated both responses.
You might think this is a recipe for a less-pleasant dining experience.
Heres how you, too, can gently move away from letting the youngest common denominator decide the restaurant.
Local restaurantsoften with chefs that have children of their owncan be great for families.
Go ahead, talk about money
We give our kids a weekly allowance for their chores.
And we let them spend or save their money without comment, unless they ask for our opinion.
But when we go out to dinner, were spendingourmoney.
So, we talked about that fact.
Its a fine line to walk.
You dont want to make your kids worry about the family finances.
But its also okay for them to understand that dining out is a treat.
We talked about our house and car payments and vacation.
It also made me feel better that our kids understand the cost of going out to eat.
Its an entirely human response when youre ready for a change.
Its also how youll doom yourself to battles at the dinner table.
And here, everyone still has lots of choices.
Youre different people with different tastes.
So, one way to solve the dilemma is togive everybody a turnas the decider.
Set the ground rules and the rotation.
Give your kids the first pick.
And then, when it is your turn, feel free to take a stab at expand their horizons.
Heres where a little advance work can make all the difference.
Look for variations on old favorites.
Chicken katsuavailable at lots of Japanese restaurantsis a cousin to chicken fingers.
The meat and rice kid?
He prefers chicken katsu to chicken fingers now.
It was what he wanted to eat on his birthday.
She loves avocado rolls.
And my wife and I?
We get a sushi date once in a while.
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