I have been doing Continental breakfast with our boys at the Best Western at Cocoa Beach every morning for the past two weeks. It didn’t even register the amount of planning and strategy that going to a continental breakfast would take with our three young children by myself until after day 1. I am a Type A planner and a former teacher, so thinking of the best way to herd lots of young children in a shared group activity on the fly is my jam. I cannot explain however the pounding headache, anxiety, exhaustion, and embarrassment I felt after day 1. And to the normal eye and ear, I’m sure we looked and sounded acceptable for young children in a restaurant, but I knew we could do much better.
Let’s set the scene.. I’m sure you are thinking, why is this chick doing continental breakfast for 2 weeks at a hotel with her children solo? My husband moves rockets for NASA, so he is stationed in Cape Canaveral for 3 weeks. My children and I are staying at the hotel with him for two of those weeks, exploring this beautiful city every day while he is at work and doing Disney every weekend. Beautiful right? Yes, but going to the pool, beach, libraries, Disney Springs, and even continental breakfast with a 4, 2, and 1 year old solo has its own set of challenges.
I knew I needed to have a game plan set in place after day 1 for surviving the next two weeks that I would be taking our children to the continental breakfast by myself. I thought through all of the details and came up with this top 5 list. Check out my system below!
1. Layer Breakfast like a 7 Course Meal
Since our children are so young and our middle is going through a ‘sprint away like a large dog is chasing you’ when called, it was impossible to bring all 3 of them through the buffet line and get/carry the food for all 4 of us. Then when I went up to grab some more food, the situation above played out. I decided to layer breakfast like a 7 course Italian seafood meal.
When we first get there, my oldest son pulls out the 4th chair and I grab the high chair with our baby. I place him in the high chair and the other two should be sitting at their seat by that time. I grab all 3 of their juice cups and fill up their juices.
Once I return with the juices, they start drinking and I retrieve the fruit and dry cereal in one big bowl and grab 3 additional bowls. I go back to the table and then sort the fruit and cereal for each of them. Once they are settled and eating that, I go make myself a LARGE cup of coffee.
Then, I do the same thing with eggs and meat. I grab a full plate full of eggs and meat and stack the additional plates below the first plate. I then sort it out onto each plate, cut the meat for them, and then we all settle in for a yummy breakfast.
2. Incentivize behavior with an Earned End of Breakfast Item
The first thing I did was incentivize a pancake and a second juice for good behavior during breakfast. This is not something I threaten and take away; it is something phrased positively that they are working towards earning. If only one child gets a pancake or second juice at the end, I praise them and help the other children figure out what they can do the next day to earn it.
In order to earn the pancake and second juice they had to:
- Use a soft voice through the entire breakfast.
- Sit in their chair the entire time.
- Use table manners such as feet off the chairs, using their fork and spoon, and saying please and thank you when receiving food.
These were all things that went wrong day one. Again picture this, I am at the buffet station trying to get eggs and pancakes for my boys and I turn around to see them jumping on the benches, yelling, and using their forks as blasters at each others’ eyeballs. KID YOU NOT… and what’s the kicker is we work on table manners every day for all three meals at home but they acted like feral animals in public!
3. Get out of the hotel room ASAP!
Kids don’t need 10 minutes to slowly wake up and roll out of bed… they wake up on 100%! Day 1, they sprung out of bed ready to play, yell, and wrestle while I was groggily sprinting around trying to get my clothes on, brush my teeth, and get clothes on them to get out of the door. They wake up around 6:30 which is way to early for a WWE wrestling competition with people sleeping all around you.
I suggest having clothes laid out before you go to bed and give yourself 5 minutes before the kids wake up to get yourself ready.
4. Create a Safe Routine to and from the Continental Breakfast
The Best Western in Cocoa Beach is comprised of 4 different buildings. We are staying in the back building on the beach and need to walk to the front building a block and a half away. I didn’t want to take the stroller out of the car and lug it to breakfast, so we created a routine that we do every day to make walking safe and easy on us. I grab the diaper bag and my coffee thermos and the boys each grab their bottles for juice. My 15 month old looks so darn cute walking with his bottle!
As we walk, we follow the same path on the sidewalks and we know whose hand to hold. You wouldn’t believe the struggle when I didn’t assign hands.
5. Find a way to Bring Food Back to the Room with You
I know all moms feel me when I say kids are like Hobbits… they want second breakfast, third lunch, etc. An hour after eating an adult-size portion of a meal, they whine because they STARVING!
I did not bring the diaper bag the first few days and I was juggling trying to carry a few bananas and yogurts back to the room. Bring a zip lock bag or bag to bring a few items for when your kids inevitably ask for more breakfast foods.
This is helping us cut our food budget down dramatically because I am able to save our granola bar stash and give them a healthier banana or apple shortly after leaving breakfast.
I hope this list helps you if you are staying at a hotel with your children! Please write other ideas that you have below.
XOXO