Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.
Back in the day – meaning before Jack – Travis and I ate out at restaurants all the time. After a long, stressful day at work the last thing I want to do is come home and make dinner. So, we’d eat out. And out. And out. And out.
Once Jack joined us, we kept eating out. In fact, one of the first stops we made when we left the NICU was to have a huge family dinner at Buca di Beppo. Jack slept quietly in his car seat while my entire family all yelled over top each other amid plates of pasta, because that’s how we do dinner.
We had a period of time where we didn’t really WANT to go out with Jack, but now that he’s 3 ½ we can finally have a meal out here and there.
The problem is that I’m kind of picky when it comes to the kid’s meal options. I don’t mind Jack having chicken nuggets and hot dogs every so often… but many times that seems like the only options available.
When I heard that the National Restaurant Association teamed up with Healthy Dining on the Kids LiveWell program, I was pretty excited to check out their healthy options for children. The Kids LiveWell program is celebrating its 4th birthday this month as the first-of-its-kind voluntary industry program that reaches over 42,000 restaurant locations nationwide committed to providing families with a growing selection of healthful children’s menu choices when dining out.
There is even a free app that helps find participating restaurants and shows Kids LiveWell-approved menu items from participating restaurants. The app is available for download here. If you’d like to celebrate their birthday with them, they are having a twitter chat on July 28 from 1-3 pm ET. Follow Kids LiveWell on Twitter to learn more and use the hashtag #4yrsofKidsLiveWell.
My favorite part of the celebration is that a bunch of restaurants are participating with specials including a deal at Baja Fresh where kids eat free on Sundays. YUM! You can see the full list of specials here.
Are you familiar with the Kids LiveWell program? Where is your favorite child-friendly place to dine out?
Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.
Well, you know I am healthy food obsessed so I looked up what restaurants were on this list. Some of the restaurants look just perfectly great and I’m sure they give pretty good options to kids eating out. But Burger King? I don’t care if they shove some apple slices in their kids meals — Burger King and healthy are words that should never be paired together. Also, Sea World is participating and they are the most evil animal torturing company in the world. So I’d rather starve than eat at Sea World. And I won’t eat at Chik-fil-A because they are horrible anti-gay crusaders. Having gotten off my soap box now, I do really appreciate your post. We are about to go on a trip to Florida and now I have a handy dandy list of places that we can eat! Except of course, the places I just mentioned! Which are evil.
Yeah, I’m certainly not a fan of Burger King or Sea World… but I just can’t quit my Chick-fil-a. I did stay away from them for awhile after their anti-gay stuff came out, but now I just make sure to think positive gay thoughts while I eat their nuggets.
I’m interested to see how this goes with Jack and if he likes the healthy options the restaurants are offering. I’m happy that more people seem to be learning that what we put into our bodies matters. It really does matter A LOT, so I hope more restaurants join this movement, and maybe provide healthier options for adults, too!
Jack pretty much eats anything that he decides he likes, but will then change his mind the next day (or the next minute). Some of his favorite healthy options are sliced apples, cooked carrots, green beans and strawberries. =)