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Wooden High Chairs in Restaurants


Heather

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Wow. It's like you made the change to RTS's hours specifically to accommodate the circumstances of my life.

My dad had such a great experience at RTS during his last visit to DC that on the car ride from the airport today he asked if we wanted to go tomorrow. (He hasn't asked to repeat any other restaurant or activity.) I said, "Oh, but on Saturday it will be really crowded." And I thought to myself, "Curses! If only RTS were open on Sunday! Why must life prove to be an endless series of disappointments and traumas?"

Problem solved.

One thing has changed since our last visit: We have a 6-week old baby. Will there be a problem parking him in his infant carrier on a booth? (We're beginners at the whole project of dining out with him -- don't know exactly where it is safe and convenient to put a carrier. Will the infant carrier teeter precariously on a chair? (I suppose this is a general question that isn't totally RTS-specific.))

We always try to put parties with infants on a banquette to accommodate more securely and safely-out-of-the-way their carriers. Some carriers I have seen have straps to secure it safely to chairs, which would be safer than on a banquette.

Parents, please, please, please do not rely on restaurant-provided high chairs to provide for the safety and welfare of your child. Provide safe means of transportation and accommodation at all times.

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We always try to put parties with infants on a banquette to accommodate more securely and safely-out-of-the-way their carriers. Some carriers I have seen have straps to secure it safely to chairs, which would be safer than on a banquette.
That's what I was talking about. Ours had the means to secure it. If you go the booth route, make sure there's no space between the carrier and the side of the table. And you might have to prechew their steak at that age. :)

Thanks for the update Michael. Sounds like RTS is still packing them in.

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If RTS has the wooden high chairs, turn one over and set it on the side of the table where it won't be bumped. The carrier/car seat should set right in the top.

Please, please, please, please do not ever do this.

This is specifically why I refuse to provide wooden high chairs at Ray's The Steaks. It is dangerous and extremely unwise. Please, please, please do not put your child, or any restaurant, in this position ever.

Provide safe, securable and secured means of transportation yourselves. Do not take chances with your children.

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Please, please, please, please do not ever do this.

This is specifically why I refuse to provide wooden high chairs at Ray's The Steaks. It is dangerous and extremely unwise. Please, please, please do not put your child, or any restaurant, in this position ever.

Provide safe, securable and secured means of transportation yourselves. Do not take chances with your children.

That's very interesting Michael. Every restaurant we took our children to did this exact thing. I had no idea we were being negligent.
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That's very interesting Michael. Every restaurant we took our children to did this exact thing. I had no idea we were being negligent.

When those wooden highchairs come brand new, there's a ginormous sticker on the bottom telling you never to invert it and drop the baby carrier in the base. They're simply not stable that way.

Though I guiltily admit to having done it a number of times. :)

Far better to use a booth, sit it on a chair (not in an aisle), or bring a portable seat, like this one. We had one that could strap to the table.

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That's very interesting Michael. Every restaurant we took our children to did this exact thing. I had no idea we were being negligent.

Not you, any restaurant that does this, even if there is some weird claim that these chairs were specifically designed to be turned upside down and have a baby balanced on top.

Not making any judgements here, just trying to correct an unsafe common practice based on a dangerously false assumption.

Do not trust your children to restaurant people and our lies, we are barely one step up from carnies, if that.

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Not you, any restaurant that does this, even if there is some weird claim that these chairs were specifically designed to be turned upside down and have a baby balanced on top.

Not making any judgements here, just trying to correct an unsafe and fallacious common practice based on a dangerously false assumption.

I was being serious. I had no idea that they weren't designed to do that. Luckily both of our are long past the car seat age.

Do you have high chairs of any type?

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I was being serious. I had no idea that they weren't designed to do that. Luckily both of our are long past the car seat age.

Do you have high chairs of any type?

No they don't - At least not that I know of, but I always carry one of these around with me and it works great.

Edited to add: Hmm, I like DanielK's seat better.

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No they don't - At least not that I know of, but I always carry one of these around with me and it works great.

Edited to add: Hmm, I like DanielK's seat better.

Funny - the one you linked to was the one that we actually had for our kids! It worked fine 80% of the time - there were some tables that it just didn't fit at.

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We have those wooden chairs and I always tell people not to turn them upside down. It is like putting a grapefruit on a paper towel roll. The base is way to small and all it takes is a slight nudge by a careless food runner to topple it. One other note on safety. Please don't put your child seat (even properly supported) at the end of the table the server comes to. Find a way to put him away from the server access point and the aisle even if it means some rearranging. We have rectangular four tops that have a short side placed against the wall with 2 chairs a piece on the long sides and people always put the seat on that short side that faces the aisle. This is the only place for the server to reach the table from. It always makes me extremely uncomfortable. I have pretty sure hands but you why take the chance with bowls of hot soup, mussel juice or pasta constantly passing over the top of that seat. I always say something to my tables but often find myself running food to other server's sections who don't want the confrontation.

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I've found dining with my 5mo son to be such an annoyance, I am all but ready to give up on it when I can't or don't want to arrange child care. But I don't WANT to stop dining out is the problem! We already do everything we can to reduce the impact of our baby on a nice restaurant--we eat early, we bring a bottle of expressed milk so we don't need to finesse nursing in public, we pay attention to him, we take him outside if he's acting up, we cancel our plans if he's having a bad day.

I'm curious how other restaurateurs would prefer a baby too young to sit upright in a high chair be placed at the table. We like to put the baby between me and my spouse if possible, so we can both access him. I've put his car seat on a banquette before, but then it's really hard for us to get in and out of the seat for bathroom or to take him for a walk if he gets antsy etc. We've tried bringing a stroller in with us, but even though we have a fairly lightweight stroller, it has too big a footprint to be handy in most restaurants. The upside-down wooden highchair with car seat combination placed at the end of the table, with my husband and I facing one another in the two seats next to it, seems to work best for us. But I'm reading here that ya'll would rather we find another solution. Which I'm open to hearing.

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The ideal solution is to eat only at ethnic restaurants on slow nights. Then the waitresses will steal your baby away and play with him or her while you wolf down a wonderful meal. (Anybody else remember the late and lamented Katmandu?).

In fact, it's almost not worth going to serious ethnic (chain Mexican doesn't count) unless you can rent a young child who will gleefully munch the cuisine, much to the delight of the owners and employees. I haven't had good service at an Ethiopian place since Nora turned 8. :)

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Please, please, please, please do not ever do this.

This is specifically why I refuse to provide wooden high chairs at Ray's The Steaks. It is dangerous and extremely unwise. Please, please, please do not put your child, or any restaurant, in this position ever.

Provide safe, securable and secured means of transportation yourselves. Do not take chances with your children.

It worth pointing out that MOST not ALL infant carriers (detachable car seat/baby bucket thingys - parents know what I mean) are designed to sit securely on top of a wood restaurant high chair that is NOT inverted. There were on the bottom of ours (and on many other models I've looked at) 4 notches that set exacly ove the seat back and the front retainer bar; there were also clips on the sides to accomodate the safety strap from the chair, thereby making doubly sure that the thing weren't going nowhere...

Waitstaff always seemed surpsised when we used the high chair that way. I nearly got into a fight witht he manager at one restaurant over this. The pinhead in question INSISTED that we invert the high chair; he refused to believe that it was safer to do it the way it was CLEARLY DESIGNED for. When he yanked the wooden chair out of my hand and proceeded to turn it upside down for the third time, we left.

One other advantage of the seats that set in the highchair right-side up; they allow the little shaver to make eye contact and watch what you are doing, rather than being forced to stare at the ceiling.

As a note; we have been taking Shorty out for dinner since he was two weeks old; we've stopped recently as he has developed a regrettable tendency towards temper tantrums while his molars are coming in. With VERY few exceptions, restaurants have been welcoming and accomodating towards us and expcially towards him. Maybe it's cause he's so damn cute. And he'll eat virtually anything you put in front of him, particularly if it's something you rather he DIDN'T eat (like rocks, chicken bones, the cat, etc.).

Rob

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Until one memorable night at Jackie's at about 6 months, Peanut was fine in restaurants. We'd feed her just before we left the house and she would generally sleep through our meal. She attended some of the finest restaurants in town without ever getting to eat anything. After that, well, eating out with her has been limited to cheap eats or DR events (because I don't mind irritating you all :) )(plus there are some fabulous babysitters among the Rockwellians that have taken care of her so Mrs JPW and I could eat -- much thanks to them always!).

In the car seat phase, I will admit that we used the upside down high chair a couple of times. Generally, we asked for a 4 top, put the seat on the most out of the way chair, and wedged the seat between the chair back and the side of the table. In a lot of ethnic places you get a 4 top that is 2 seats on each side and this worked quite well as we could also put her right against a wall with one of us on the other side.

From 6 months to about 18 months dining could be really stressful as she could be quite fussy and we came close to not really going out as a family at all. It's gotten better recently. She'll sit in her chair and hoover up whatever we put in front of her. Most places bring you so much food, there is really no need to order anything for her. She just doesn't yet have the patience to sit though a multi-course meal, so we don't inflict those on her.

I'm sure that Mrs JPW will chime in at some point.

Malawry -- the car seat phase will be over soon enough and now I'm just praying that the terrible twos don't take too terrible a toll.

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Obviously the safest and most convenient thing to do is never take your children anywhere until they're old enough to drive. :)

I hope I didn't come off wrong. I love kids in the restaurant and am happy to see any age. I was just trying to say that it always scares me when parents sit the young one on the aisle or at the only access point for servers instead of doing some attention grabbing rearranging of the seats. I think it is sometimes embarrassing to cause a nuisance so parents just put the car seat down on the outside. I just don't like the idea of passing hot soups/ or other items over a slumbering infant. I am very sure handed but keep thinking worst case scenario.

I am totally down with a right side up wooden chair attachment. I can't believe some manager gave you so much grief. The problem that I have with upside down is that the chair is basically a v shape. When it is upside down it is resting on the point of the V with considerable weight up on top. Not sturdy. When right side up it would be pretty hard to tip.

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