Whether on holiday or in your home town, children can feel intimidated in some restaurants. There’s too much cutlery or glassware on the table, they can’t work out the menu, and the tablecloth is terrifyingly white. So, when taking your children for a meal out, whether for a simple lunch or a special occasion, choose your venue carefully.

Ask other families in your travel resort, your travel rep or tourist information office which places they recommend if you’re in a place you don’t know well. There is something to be said for picking a quality chain restaurant (not fast food). These can offer simple food such as a healthy sandwich or pizza that your children are likely to enjoy, but they also provide highchairs and crayons with colouring sheets and puzzles. Colouring in the table-mat (and being allowed to do so!) is a far more pleasant way for children to wait for the first course to arrive or for adults to finish eating.

On any family outing, both at home and abroad, it is a good idea to take your own kit of crayons, lego bricks, activity books and the like. Since children are often hungry already by the time they sit down in a restaurant, and are starving once the waiter has taken their order, they often find it very difficult to wait for the food. A basket of bread might be something you could ask for, to keep them going before the starters turn up.

Parents who sit with their families in a booth are savvy and considerate. Partially enclosed spaces like this are more likely to contain the potential mayhem of family meals, making the occasion less stressful for the parents and less distracting for other diners. And finally, remember to offer a reward for good behaviour, such as a knicker bocker glory for those who eat their main course all up.