The Gold Coast is known for its abundance of good food and stunning dining options, but when you have young children in tow – often the thought of dining out can be daunting. Thankfully, many local restauranteurs have heard the call of parents seeking family-friendly dining options. We’re now seeing dining venues with amazing menus, family-friendly fit outs and features to help keep the children occupied while you enjoy a hot meal. Whether it be a playground, a simple children’s corner, or open spaces to move around safely, there are plenty of choices for you to enjoy your next meal out. Here are my top six family-friendly dining venues on the Gold Coast that you should be sure to visit!
This shopping centre café is a hidden gem, saving the sanity of parents for many years now. With opening hours stretching from 5.30am – 9pm, you can often find those parents with early-risers enjoying a hot coffee at Café 63 in the early hours. Located in the incredible “Backyard” precinct at Westfield Coomera, the outdoor dining area overlooks a fun-filled obstacle course with adventure play suited to four-eight year olds. For the youngest children, a nearby splash pad and toddler sensory zone also serve as great spaces to stretch the legs while waiting for your meals to be served. The menu here is extensive and well-priced, including a fabulous children’s menu that will please everyone.
Here you will find a huge indoor children’s playground for four-12 year olds, with a family specific dining space attached. Separate from the rest of The Wattle Hotel’s restaurant, this glassed-off dining room overlooks the playground and contains about 15 tables. Here children can easily move back and forth between the playground and the table while their parents can see them at all times. There is a great children’s menu and delicious daily specials to enjoy, this is modern bistro dining that can be enjoyed by all the family.
A café best known amongst the Coast’s cyclists thanks to its location near the Velodrome and bike shops, Cadence Café also caters beautifully to families seeking great food. Set across three terraced levels, the venue is connected by a central path and steps – at the top is the café, the middle level has plenty of dining tables and chairs, and the lower level is home to high bar tables overlooking a fenced children’s play space. All levels are shaded by a beautiful fig tree, have ramp access, and dogs are also welcome in the outdoor areas. Serving breakfast and lunch, the menu caters well to families, and you are sure to enjoy a delicious meal.
Just off the hustle and bustle of Olsen Avenue sits the Latte Lounge, a family-friendly oasis amongst the gum trees. Here you will find house-roasted specialty coffee and a delectable brunch menu, plus one of the best children’s menus you will find at a café. The open-air café is almost the second-best attraction, when you see the large, easily accessible playground right in the middle of the café. Designed for all ages, this fenced café and playground is covered by large shade sails and offers plenty of shady spots to enjoy your meal. With its central Gold Coast location, this is also an extremely popular spot for birthday parties and play dates. Thankfully, due to the size of the café and playground it never feels overly busy or crowded and is always a delightful outing.
This hidden gem on the southern end at first appears to be a juice bar, but venture inside and you will find a breezy indoor/outdoor café with children’s playground! Popular with the locals, this unassuming little spot is filled with sunshine, great food and service with a smile. This is a family-run café with its roots in healthy superfoods that taste phenomenal. Dog friendly, the outdoor deck is the place to be, with easy line of site to the children’s playground. The café kitchen is only open Thursday – Monday, but the juice and smoothie bar is open 7 days.
With beautiful coastal vibes, indoor/outdoor dining is essential on the Gold Coast, and BSKT serves it up perfectly. Located just steps away from the beach, BSKT has delicious food, ample seating and a fenced children’s play area. Pronounced biscuit, this menu is packed with vibrant colours and bold flavours, but also caters well to children. BSKT doesn’t take books and this spot is extremely popular on the weekend, but wait times are usually short. Be sure to grab a spot outside under the patio to have easy access to the play area! Why not pack the swimwear and walk over to the beach afterwards!
Find Lara’s recommendations at her website Mrs. Lardeedah.com, and follow her socials Facebook and Instagram
Children’s positive views of themselves as learners are more important than being told they are clever.
This insight from Nathan Wallis’s talk at the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) conference resonated with us, and we believe it’s valuable for parents to hear. Our intention isn’t to make parents feel guilty for praising their children’s intelligence. We understand that parents aim to foster a strong sense of self and ability in their children, and we fully support this. However, Wallis emphasises that before the age of seven, children don’t need to prove their intelligence. Instead, they need to develop learning skills through play and believe in their ability to learn. According to Wallis, more play and less structured learning before age seven leads to better outcomes in adulthood.
“To put it simply, before seven, it doesn’t matter how clever your child is. What matters is how clever your child feels and their disposition towards themselves as learners,” Wallis, an educator who focuses on neuroscience, explained on the Future Focus podcast.
“You’re better off having a six-year-old who can only count to 20 but thinks they’re a good learner than a six-year-old who can count to 100 but doubts their cleverness.”
Wallis highlights that free play boosts creativity and problem-solving, which are essential for intelligence. Letting children freely build, create, and explore supports flexible thinking and a positive learning mindset.
At the conference, which attracted hundreds of early childhood educators, Wallis offered advice on how to support children in their confidence and ability to learn:
Experts at Early Childhood Australia agree that children learn about themselves, others, and the world around them through play.
“If you provide your child with plenty of opportunities for playing, exploring, discovering their interests, solving problems, and tackling challenges, then you’ll be laying a strong foundation for building self-confidence,” says David Lyons, CEO of Nido Early School, in a post on ECA’s The Spoke blog.
According to Be You, the national mental health and wellbeing initiative for learning communities in Australia, praise is most effective when adults are mindful of how and when they use it.
When praising children, Be You suggests focusing on their efforts and achievements.
“Praise that’s specific and acknowledges the process of completing an activity or solving a problem helps develop children’s learning and motivation. For example, you might say, ‘You put away your toys so nicely,’ ‘I noticed you were really trying hard at building that block tower,’ or ‘You’ve used so many bright colours in your painting.’ Children can then use this learning when they have similar experiences in the future.”
Lyons agrees and cautions against overpraising.
“Children need to discover and learn those things that give them personal enjoyment and fulfilment, not just do things to please their parents. Similarly, comparing a child to others can be detrimental to their confidence and self-esteem.”
Dealing with disappointment is also crucial for developing confidence.
“Everyone fails to achieve their goals sometimes – and this isn’t a bad thing. You can build children’s ability to deal with challenges by responding sympathetically and with encouragement, helping children focus on what they can change, and challenging ‘I can’t’ thinking by showing and saying you believe in them and reminding them of their achievements,” says Be You.
Wallis reinforces that play enables children to develop social, cognitive, and emotional skills through their own interests and in creative and innovative ways.
“Play-based learning teaches creativity, which is fundamental to growing intelligence and the ability to problem-solve. When children can take their time and make multiple attempts before achieving success, they build resilience and other important skills needed later in life,” says Wallis.
Supporting children in developing a positive self-view as learners is crucial, especially in their early years. Emphasising the importance of play over structured learning fosters creativity, problem-solving, and resilience. By providing nurturing relationships, paying attention to their efforts, and creating flexible learning environments, we can help children build the confidence they need to thrive.
As Nathan Wallis and other experts highlight, the goal is to make children feel capable and enthusiastic about learning. This foundation will benefit them not only in school but throughout their lives. At Little Scholars, we encourage our little ones to play, explore, and believe in themselves – because how they see themselves as learners today will shape their success tomorrow.
Teaching a small child self-respect, to find and use his or her own voice can be one of the most valuable lessons you share as a parent or special adult in that child’s life. When children can speak up for themselves, this will help them in every aspect of their lives, for the rest of their lives. Having the ability to use their voices, they’re able to command respect, protect their feelings and their bodies, and increase their confidence in their ideas, their relationships and in various social settings. There are several facets to teaching a child to use his or her voice.
Allow your child to make choices about his or her body. You can start by allowing them choices on what to wear, and checking with them if it’s ok to help them dress or undress. This is the beginning of teaching your child about consent, even if he or she is a baby. Loved ones can also model consent by asking, ‘May I pick you up?’ or ‘May I give you a hug?’ and in the bath or nappy changes, asking permission before you clean or wipe your child in private places. Those conversations can lead to discussions about appropriate versus inappropriate touching, and even little children should expect to be asked permission from anyone who comes into contact with them. Even if they’re your children and you’ve been looking after them literally since day one, you’re showing them you respect their body by asking first.
This is the same in our campuses. It’s our policy to maintain the rights and dignity of the children, that includes in terms of nappy changing and toileting, so we try to provide privacy where possible from everyone in our campuses. Our educators are all trained in respectful care, and host not-for-profit visitors such as Bravehearts, who teach children about advocating for body safety, yes and no feelings, the difference between parents, trusted adults like doctors or educators looking after their bodies, versus strangers and unsafe adults.
We recommend teaching children young the proper names for their body parts and use them any time you are talking about them. When they’re first learning to speak, this can be a great bathtime conversation as you point out the names of various body parts. Keep any cringing when talking about body parts to yourself. The sexualised nature of private body parts — giggling or shame when talking about them — that’s adult stuff that we don’t need to put onto children.
“I teach my children “Your body belongs to you and you only” as well as naming their correct private parts which are theirs only,” says Holly, a lead educator in the Senior Kindy studio at our Staplyton campus. “Children really need to be educated about body awareness/safety.”
Why is teaching them proper names so important? Getting used to these conversations young can reduce embarrassment, something unnecessarily expressed by many adults and in previous generations, and establish ongoing communications with children about sex/sexuality. But most importantly, this educates and empowers little ones about their body safety, and research shows this could protect them from predators.
Explain to your child that nobody is allowed to touch our private parts unless it’s for hygiene or medical reasons and that people who have to come in contact with your child’s private areas have to ask permission first. But while there’s no shame in their bodies, they should also know there are parts of the body that are private and have it explained to them those parts are just for them.
Holly says additionally, they have conversations with the children with scenarios about stranger danger and the steps they need to remember in case anything like that happens. They also have conversations about who the children name as their ‘safe people’.
There are lots of ways to show children respect, and it’s important when you expect them to respect others. Try to refrain from talking about your child, especially in front of them, to others, or be mindful of what you do share. This shows your child you respect his or her privacy. You may remember a time when you were younger when a parent or someone you loved shared a story that embarrassed you – even as an adult, you remember. Your child could too. Before you tell a story, ask yourself how they’d feel about you telling it.
In our increasingly digital world, this also goes for sharing everything about them on social media. Once it’s online, it’s there forever. Even if it in theory disappears after 24 hours, screenshots can be taken. That also goes for other people’s children – other parents may not want them on social media, so keep online sharing to your own children. Consider what you are posting, would your child want to have a picture for the world to see of themselves on the potty or with a bare bottom when they’re older? Keep in mind others may Google them in the future; potential and current employers, associates, and most scarily, predators.
Another way you can show your child respect is by discussing inappropriate behaviour away from public settings. Keep important conversations for a time when you can discuss them privately. You may think embarrassing them by calling their actions out in public might stop them from doing it again, but this will likely backfire. You can say in public something like ‘We will have an important talk about this later.’ and stick to that. But highlighting negative behaviours in public only causes humiliation and shame, and no one needs to feel that way.
Don’t force children to hug or kiss anyone, even family. You could ask, for example, how they’d like to say greet people in each social situation.
“I offer children the choice of a hug, holding hands or sitting together as an alternative to allow them to make the choice. When saying hello or goodbye they can say just the words, high five, fist bump or hug, but it is always up to them,” says Claire, an educator from our Nerang campus. These options still teach them to be polite if that’s important to you, but shows them how they can do it within their comfort level and respects their physical boundaries.
Parents often focus on teaching children to be respectful, such as learning to apologise when in the wrong, but teaching children to just say ‘sorry’ versus understanding how their actions actually affect others and learning to own their actions is a better way to develop their emotional maturity. By asking the children questions such as ‘how do you think your sister felt when you hit her?’ or ‘how were you feeling when you broke that toy?’ and ‘what would you like people to do if they recognise they made you feel sad?’ will get them to begin to understand owning up to their mistakes and learning to say sorry meaningfully.
This is also where modelling comes in. It’s important to apologise to your child when you make a mistake. They learn from you, and by saying you’re sorry sincerely shows children that no one is perfect, that everyone makes mistakes, but it’s how we respond to them that counts. This could be done in other ways, rather than an adult yelling when angry, but by speaking kindly and respectfully to them, even when it’s difficult to, or if you’re setting a limit, children begin to understand their actions have consequences and can respond to situations differently in future.
Let your child answer for themselves. Refrain from answering questions directed at them. If they don’t want to answer, don’t make a big deal about it.
“We use language to acknowledge how children feel for example, ‘I can see that you are upset, how can I help you?’” says Claire. “We use this language to help children to speak for themselves every day so it becomes second nature to them.”
We guide our educators to tune in to the behaviours, actions and emotions of the child to identify what they may be trying to communicate.
“Through listening to gestures cues, along with words, shows respect and ensures we are responsive to children and value their rights,” says Susan Cooper, group pedagogical leader for Little Scholars. “It is important for early childhood educators to validate what the children may be feeling and this is done by our educators asking the child about their emotions and setting spaces and environments where the children feel safe and secure to express their feelings comfortably.”
Tell them it’s OK to say ‘no’ if they feel unsafe or unsure. This teaches children and young people that it is OK to stand up for themselves and to be assertive if something doesn’t feel right. Following this, they should know that nothing is so ‘yucky’ that they can’t tell someone they trust about it. Hopefully, this is something your child never has to deal with, but if they’re asked to keep something secret that hurts them or makes them uncomfortable, then by talking to them about situations like this, they’ll speak up straight away and not worry about getting in trouble by breaking a ‘secret’. Teach them the difference between secrets, privacy, and surprises.
Here’s an explanation of the differences. A surprise is something that should be fun, happy, and temporary. Secrets that are meant to be kept for a long time are usually meant to protect someone or keep someone from getting in trouble. Although we want children to be wary of secrets (therefore, keep language in mind) —and especially to come to us when they have an unsafe secret—they also need to learn that some things should be kept private. Privacy isn’t about keeping someone from getting in trouble; it’s about respecting a person’s personal information.
Finally, please feel free to talk to your educators or campus managers about how they manage any of these conversations and talk to them about how you prefer it handled. We want your children and your family to feel respected and heard, safe and happy in our care, and if we can help with those conversations, we’d like to. These are also conversations you should have with extended family or people who will be in your child’s life.
Most importantly, model the person you want them to become. Children will remember their biggest role models their entire lives, so being a respectful, caring, supportive, confident adult influence will teach children the best person he or she can become. By showing them the respect they deserve and teaching them about self-respect, we’re setting them up for their future. Self-respecting and resilient children who spend time in positive, affectionate and supportive environments, led by clear and reasonable guidelines, and have healthy connections to parents and other adults, grow to be adults with the ability to bounce back from challenging situations their entire lives. And, all of the ways you show respect for children teaches them how they should show respect for others.
At Little Scholars School of Early Learning, we’re dedicated to shaping bright futures and instilling a lifelong passion for learning. With our strategically located childcare centres in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, we provide tailored educational experiences designed to foster your child’s holistic development.
Let us hold your hand and help looking for a child care centre. Leave your details with us and we’ll be in contact to arrange a time for a ‘Campus Tour’ and we will answer any questions you might have!
Let us hold your hand and help looking for a child care centre. Leave your details with us and we’ll be in contact to arrange a time for a ‘Campus Tour’ and we will answer any questions you might have!
