Children in Restaurants.

[K'Ehleyr]

carrying on from mentions in the 'eye contact' thread...

Ok. There are family restaurants where you expect to encounter the 'non-adult' customer. Absolutely fair enough.
How 'to dine out' is a social skill that children need to learn ~ but sometimes they don't appear to be with the adults capable of transfering those skills. But...

If, after you have eaten and are on your third beer, your baby is howling, but you still want to chat, very loudly with your friends ~ then it is time to leave, remember you have a little person that is not happy and that you are responsible for, in the push chair and stop ruining other diners time.

If you have an energetic toddler, please bring something to entertain them or failing that, glue him/her to their seat and do not let them come up to other tables and stare at you. Nor let them run amoke, else my leg will shoot out from the table and accidentally trip them up.

And if you have a child with a 'less than fresh' nappy on, please do not place her on the bar in front of me whilst you order your drinks.

So favourite 'children in restaurant' stories please ~ if there are any 'good children' ones then that would be great.

My favourite ~ Local family pub, 8pm on a Sunday, 2 women (a little worse for wear) with 3 toddlers amongst them, were refused service by a young assistant manager. He received a hail of abuse from the women, a round of applause from the people sitting near and I took his name and emailed his head office to say what a great job he'd done. Fair? I think so!

 

[Stephen!]

There was a restaurant that I once went to that didn't serve kids under 14. They tried to tell parents that my brother was too young to be in there.

Although once they explained that he was 14 (I was 16 at the time) they didn't question it further. At least they weren't trying to give him the child menu

 

[Joshua Howard]

If, after you have eaten and are on your third beer, your baby is howling, but you still want to chat, very loudly with your friends

I'm sorry if I'm just old school, but since when is it appropriate for any parent ever to have their baby with them while they sit around drinking beers at the pub?

In any case, I would agree that if a person has a child who will not or cannot behave, they should leave out of courtesy to the other restaurant guests. However, I don't have a problem with children at any form of restaurant, assuming that they are fairly decent.

I've never had a bad experience at a restaurant involving children. Last year I went to the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle. It is a pretty high end place ($100/person or so) and there were a number of very nice children there with their parents. They spent the better part of the hour or two I was there writing notes on a piece of paper and setting it on the windowsill, which everyone else against the wall had an opportunity to read, or add to (as the note passed each of us when the floor rotated.) It added to the fun, friendly atmosphere of the place. In any case, just to make my point, decent families are welcomed anywhere; there is NO excuse for bratty children who have snot running off their noses and scream or whine continually.

Parents need to learn the lesson which Captain Kirk reaffirmed in The Undiscovered Country, when he said "I am responsible for the conduct of the crew under my command."

 

[Mr. B]

It would be nice if parents of loud and obnoxious children would not bother the general public with them any more than absolutely necessary. Nothing ruins a nice dinner like whining kids. Luckily I've never had to listen to that sort of thing on a date, just some outings with family.

 

[Sledder]

As the father of a 4 year old boy, 2 year old girl and 2 month old boy obviously this is close to my heart. I agree that parents should be selective in which restaurants they take their kids to. A good place that brings food quickly and is family friendly is the right place to bring your kids. Nothing worse than trying to make a young child sit waiting for their meal for an extended period of time.

I keep my kids seated almost all the time and always keep them away from other tables. Often we make a mess but the volume remains under control and the kids create as little disturbance as we can manage.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

There's nothing I hate more than being busy with a whole lot of shit I'm trying to drop off at a table and a bunch of little bastards running around like the place is their own personal playground. Especially when the plates are scalding my arms and they just stand there in the middle of the aisle staring at you and the parents aren't paying one damn bit of attention. It's times like those I wish it was appropriate and legal to punt the little bastards.

On a brighter note, one time I had a party with a shit ton of drinks and one little asshole reached ONTO MY TRAY, which had at least a dozen drinks, carefully balanced, and caused me to spill the remaining drinks all over said party. While frustrating, it was rather pleasant to see the parents realize how out of control their little fuckers were.

 

[Mistral]

As the father of a 4 year old boy, 2 year old girl and 2 month old boy obviously this is close to my heart. I agree that parents should be selective in which restaurants they take their kids to. A good place that brings food quickly and is family friendly is the right place to bring your kids. Nothing worse than trying to make a young child sit waiting for their meal for an extended period of time.

I keep my kids seated almost all the time and always keep them away from other tables. Often we make a mess but the volume remains under control and the kids create as little disturbance as we can manage.

There's nothing I hate more than being busy with a whole lot of shit I'm trying to drop off at a table and a bunch of little bastards running around like the place is their own personal playground. Especially when the plates are scalding my arms and they just stand there in the middle of the aisle staring at you and the parents aren't paying one damn bit of attention. It's times like those I wish it was appropriate and legal to punt the little bastards.

On a brighter note, one time I had a party with a shit ton of drinks and one little asshole reached ONTO MY TRAY, which had at least a dozen drinks, carefully balanced, and caused me to spill the remaining drinks all over said party. While frustrating, it was rather pleasant to see the parents realize how out of control their little fuckers were.

I've been on both ends here. My boy behaves-period. We have a zero tolerance rule with him and he knows it. As for the dealing with the table waiting end of things-Turd, I have told parents they needed to restrain their kids. You'd be surprised at how most react to that-they're usually embarrassed and jump to it. Once in a while people would complain to my mgr, but I only told the truth so he'd ask, "Was your kid (dadada) and they'd have to say "Yes". End of prob. My favorite was the lady who ignored me after I twice asked her to contain her little shit and keep him from bothering others. I follow the three strikes rule. The third time he hassled another patron I spoke to him(he was about 4). I was like, "Little man, if you don't go sit down right now and stop bothering people I'm going to throw you out in the street." I said this loud enough that about 6 tables heard me. The mom started to lay into me and a guy at the next table told her I was right to say that since she obviously didn't care enough to take care of her own kid. Shut her right up, it did!

 

[Jan]

I've always been grateful that my parents took us out to dinner when we were children. If there were 'family friendly' restaurants around then we never went there. The usual place was an independant bar/restaurant combo where we were known but that definitely didn't cater to kids. The booster seats were phone books.

I'm sure there were probably times when we didn't behave perfectly but I guarantee that when we'd get 'The Look' from my dad, we calmed down immediately.

Jan

 

[LeahBoBo]

The ignorant fuckers that allow their offspring to stand up in the seat and peer over the booth at the diners behind them. That is the height of rudeness and inconsideration. I will not tolerate that, and all hell will break loose if said ignorant parents don't nip that in the bud STAT. Since I am not a kid friendly person in the first place, I immediately inform the host or hostess that I do not want to be seated near any kids. It's better and safer for everyone.

 

[nevermore]

I can't remember the last time I was in a "family friendly" restaurant. I've worked in some though, and some parents really seem to think that not only are the staff there to serve them food, but to babysit as well. Servers used to fight over who would be forced to take families with small kids to the point where it was used as a punishment for people who came in late. There is nothing more vile than having to clean up chewed chicken fingers and soggy cheerios after they leave. I also worked in a place that pointedly excluded anything kids might like from the menu and refused all special orders for children, meaning that only those parents will very well-socialized children with developed palates ever came in. That was heaven, and I often made a point of complimenting those parents of the behavior of their children.

I once misbehaved in a restaurant when I was about 5; I think I tried to leave the table or something. I was summarily dragged to the car and made to sit there while my parents finished up a rather leisurely meal. I didn't get any dinner that night and I did not act up in a restaurant again. Of course, my parents were super-strict about behaving in public generally, and I probably didn't get taken to another restaurant for at least a year after that...

 

[kimc]

I'm sure there were probably times when we didn't behave perfectly but I guarantee that when we'd get 'The Look' from my dad, we calmed down immediately.

Jan

That's how it was with my family and believe me I was on the receiving end of "the look" a few times!

A few years ago my dad gave "the look" to a boy who was running football drills in the back of the church during a Christmas service. He went running back to his mother looking absolutely terrified which made my sister and I start cracking up. This made my dad give us "the look" which made us laugh harder (apparently the look gets funny as you get older) and that got him started. My mom wasn't too pleased with any of us!

 

[Middle Earther]

When our daughters were younger, we took them outside and sat in the car with them if they acted up or got loud in any restaurant. One warning and then out. As I recall we never needed to do that with them more than a couple of times, because they so wanted to be with the family - usually grandpa and grandma were with us!

Announced at my sister in law's church once before a service when crying babies were becoming an issue: "Crying children, like good intentions, should be carried out."

 

[SeerSGB]

I never take my son to any restaurant where I think there is going to be a expectation of a quiet (relatively speaking) more mature sort of behavior. Places like Shoneys or Ryans are a little different, but he's still expected to sit down, be quiet, and not bother other people, but it's not the same as a place that is geared towards more adult clientele as their core business.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I'm sorry if I'm just old school, but since when is it appropriate for any parent ever to have their baby with them while they sit around drinking beers at the pub?

It is totally appropriate in a family pub so long as the parents aren't drunk and the children are enjoying themselves and not behaving badly.

 

[trampledamage]

The ignorant fuckers that allow their offspring to stand up in the seat and peer over the booth at the diners behind them. That is the height of rudeness and inconsideration. I will not tolerate that, and all hell will break loose if said ignorant parents don't nip that in the bud STAT. Since I am not a kid friendly person in the first place, I immediately inform the host or hostess that I do not want to be seated near any kids. It's better and safer for everyone.

My apologies if you've ever been looked at by a two year old in a burger joint. I do let my son climb up and look around, hadn't realised it was that annoying.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The ignorant fuckers that allow their offspring to stand up in the seat and peer over the booth at the diners behind them. That is the height of rudeness and inconsideration. I will not tolerate that, and all hell will break loose if said ignorant parents don't nip that in the bud STAT. Since I am not a kid friendly person in the first place, I immediately inform the host or hostess that I do not want to be seated near any kids. It's better and safer for everyone.

My apologies if you've ever been looked at by a two year old in a burger joint. I do let my son climb up and look around, hadn't realised it was that annoying.

If a two-year old was looking at me at a burger joint I would play peek-a-boo with him.

 

[trampledamage]

The ignorant fuckers that allow their offspring to stand up in the seat and peer over the booth at the diners behind them. That is the height of rudeness and inconsideration. I will not tolerate that, and all hell will break loose if said ignorant parents don't nip that in the bud STAT. Since I am not a kid friendly person in the first place, I immediately inform the host or hostess that I do not want to be seated near any kids. It's better and safer for everyone.

My apologies if you've ever been looked at by a two year old in a burger joint. I do let my son climb up and look around, hadn't realised it was that annoying.

If a two-year old was looking at me at a burger joint I would play peek-a-boo with him.

In my defence, he is very polite. And if the people he was looking at looked like they were getting annoyed, I'd stop him.

 

[Mistral]

The ignorant fuckers that allow their offspring to stand up in the seat and peer over the booth at the diners behind them. That is the height of rudeness and inconsideration. I will not tolerate that, and all hell will break loose if said ignorant parents don't nip that in the bud STAT. Since I am not a kid friendly person in the first place, I immediately inform the host or hostess that I do not want to be seated near any kids. It's better and safer for everyone.

My apologies if you've ever been looked at by a two year old in a burger joint. I do let my son climb up and look around, hadn't realised it was that annoying.

If a two-year old was looking at me at a burger joint I would play peek-a-boo with him.

Me too. I like kids and peeking over a booth at a burger joint is a little different from crawling over a booth at ZTejas Grille, and it's certainly different from snotty brats running loose. I am a believer in the idea that all adults are responsible for teaching children proper behavior so if a parent isn't handling things I will say something to the child. I read about "The Look" in an earlier post-I learned "That Voice" from my mom. Children respond when I tell them something.

 

[Jan]

If a two-year old was looking at me at a burger joint I would play peek-a-boo with him.

Me, too. I'm not much of one for little (pre- to early-verbal) kids but I enjoy a few minutes of peek-a-boo once in a while. Now if some kid starts kicking the back of my seat anywhere, I'll speak up pretty quickly.

I have to admit, I feel for parents these days. Used to be you could remove the misbehaving child to the car for a few minutes and leave him/her there alone long enough to miss being part of the family group and decide to behave. Nowadays that doesn't seem to be the case.

Jan

 

[May 20]

My daughter learned from a very early age (and a couple trips to the bathroom) that good behavior in public was simply non-negotiable. It's taken a bit longer to get that message through to my son. I brought the loaded busy bag for him...which he would not be interested it because wherever we were was MUCH more interesting. *sigh* We've visited the bathroom, sat in the car while others ate, and left the restaraunt entirely. At its worst, we simply didn't eat out at all. When we wanted restaraunt food, I'd buy take-out, and we'd practice at the dining table. He has finally developed enough self-discipline that we have begun eating out again. And, it's pleasant.