Restaurant bans children under 6 for noise/messy complaints from other diners
 

a restaurant has gone so far as to ban the little ones.


http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/blogs/2...=FCST_hero_hot

I am biased and will tell you I think that its a GREAT idea! most parents dont teach their children good "table manners" and they fling food, and play with their food, and rub it all over the table, the booth, the curtains. Ever sat in a diner and seen all the messy finger prints covering the window you look out of?? iCK! Most better places to eat have folks out late, and children get over tired, cranky and then LOUD! Ever sit next to a screaming child when the mom just sits and ignores it and says "oh johnny is just over tired" well DUH take him home!

They say they did it for many reasons, but that mostly other patrons are fed up with a fine establisment being treated like a McDs.

Did you teach your children table manners for going out? When we sat down to eat out, we were little ladies, and little gentlemen and if you became a monster, we went outside and calmed down. Sometimes we had to sit in the car and eat a snack, or listen to a happy tune for a few mintues till we could get control again, but we did not inflict our bad day on others. To this day I cringe when a table full of jumping, hopping, nose picking toddlers crawl into the booth behind me.

As a former waitress I can only wish they had banned some of the kids I waited on! I still don't get allowing kids to run through restaurants, stores etc. Not all kids of course but in general as I also found working in retail and health care so many parents just aren't parenting.

I think we have gone overboard with fostering good self-esteem and should in fact be embracing self-regulation skills. The sun does not rise and set on their little fannies and allowing them to think that really increases the rude awakening they will have later in life when they realize the rest of the world doesn't think they are the genius that Mommy told them they were. :D

Don't even get me started on teens not having jobs now because school is their job...

Man, I hope this becomes a nation-wide trend. My wife and I hate going out these days because there is always some table full of kids with at least one shrieking at the top of their lungs. If I had done that when I was a kid, I would have been taken out to the car and paddled with a shoe. Instead, the parents these days turn and laugh at "how cute" the kid is shrieking and disrupting all the other diners, then they turn back to their margarita and their conversation and let the kid keep shrieking.


Edit: Wow...my 500th post and I sound just like my father...

Lol don't feel bad I now sound like my father and am looking like my Grandmother. :eek:

P.S. Not that looking like my wonderful Nana is a bad thing but she was so OLD! :D

We rarely went out to restaurants with the boys when they were little. Maybe one with a playground but not the nicer ones. Besides, DH worked the night shift way back then so the time we did have together as a family was pretty much spent at home.

When oldest DS was a baby I remember going to a nice restaurant with the whole extended family. When he started crying I took him outside and walked around with him till he quieted down. I can't imagine subjecting everyone in the restaurant to his crying. I know I'm a paying customer, too, but it just seems rude.

I'm a stickler for parents to tend to their kids and make them realize that there are others who matter, too. Some kids think they are the center of the universe.....and they might be to their parents.....but teaching your child to feel that way is, IMHO, not right.

I love this idea!

I can still remember my parents taking me and my sister out for dinner when we were little. (Every saturday night, we'd go to Mr. Steak)

My sister and I were always separated from each other, because apparently we'd pick on each other and start making noise. My parents also always used to get a booth seat, and my sister and I were always on the inside of the booth, not on the outer part of the seat where we could escape easily. (I do remember crawling under the table to get to the bathroom tho)

If we made noise, or blew bubbles in our chocolate milk, my dad used his "Dad Voice", to make us stop. I dont remember ever being allowed to run like wild maniacs thru a restaurant. Even at McDonald's. (back then, I dont think they had playgrounds)

I know it's possible to make your kids behave, because I remember my parents making/teaching me how to behave. I've seen my friends raise kids that didnt feel the need to rupture the eardrums of people around them with screaming contests. If they did start to yell, my friends made their kids stop, or they'd leave and go home.

If I'm in a nice restaurant that doesnt have a playground attached to it, I dont want to hear screaming children, or have strange kids climbing up onto chairs at the table I'm at (happened yesterday) I want to be able to eat and not have to yell myself so that the person I'm with can hear me over the screeching.

Kids running and screeching is what I expect to see/hear at McDonald's (but really, they should only be running and screaming in the playground area, not out in the regular part of the dining room)

I ticked off some lady at a Chinese restaurant a while back. She came in with her screaming brats, and they were either playing "duck duck Goose" at the table, or just being allowed to run wild while other people in the restaurant were giving them the hairy eyeball. I finally turned around when one of the kids ran into my chair and made me spill my food/drink, and asked the kid (nicely) to stop. I have back pain a lot, and when that kid hit my chair, it really hurt. Which I mentioned to him when I asked him to stop (he'd run into me/hit my chair more than once).

That lady got all offended and was yelling at me about being rude to her precious little brat. The manager of the place (friend of mine) came over and asked her to leave. After she left, there were several people at other tables who said, not very quietly, "yay!!!" and "good riddance!".

It's people like that who annoy me, who think their kids have to "be kids" all the time, and shouldnt be expected to behave because they're only children.

I would love to visit that restaurant. Hope this becomes a trend at restaurants. If it doesnt, hopefully a lot of restaurant owners will grow a spine soon and at least start asking the parents of the noisemakers to get their kids to settle down, or their food will be delivered to the table in to-go boxes.

My parents would have been so embarrassed that we had to be spoken to by another adult that we would have been snatched up. Just the thought of this makes me shudder even today, lol.

I know that my DD and her DH take their brood out to eat often. They usually go to Family/kids oriented restaurants or get carryout.

I have never been with them, but I have a feeling they behave, when Dad uses his Dad voice.:eek: Mom lets 'em get by with murder, I think. Guilt trip, because she is the bread winner and away from them so much.:hug:

When we were little, my Father just had to say one more thing, after saying stop, if it didn't work. And that was "just wait until we get home":eek:

I am for it, but the problem still lies with the parents being at fault. They tune out there kits so they can have a nice meal while others suffer.

If the place is big enough the need to make a room just for the parents and there kids so they have a place they can eat at away from home to be far to everyone. Steel tables and chairs with paper plates & plastic flatware. Most important sound proof walls with their own entrance/exist.

I remember being terrified of what would happen when my dad "got home" after I did something bad...nothing bad happened. I'd get the look from my dad, and he'd use the Dad Voice and then I'd get grounded. Which was the worst punishment for me when I was little. I'd either get grounded from the tv (the worst!), or from doing stuff I liked to do, like roller skating.

I did get to listen to tv on my radio that picked up the over-the-air tv signals (they did that back then) But, I wasnt allowed to watch the tv if I'd done something bad.

My mom was scarier when she got mad. She has no real control over her temper now. (hair trigger temper) and back then, she barely had control over it. I remember her grabbing me and dragging me home. Hurting my wrist, or getting slapped by her in a public business in front of witnesses. (something you cant do now or you probably go to jail)

My dad knew my mom had a temper, so he told her once that if she ever hit me or my sister, that he'd leave (or something like that) so after that, she would just use the "wait till your father gets home..." threat.

It was scarier, waiting for my dad to get home to find out what my punishment was, than actually getting the punishment.

My dad can still use his Dad Voice to get me to be quiet about stuff at times. I've heard him use the Dad Voice (for good) when we've seen kids vandalizing the Commons area of our neighborhood. Nothing more fun that to see kids stop immediately in mid toss of throwing junk or neighbor's yard art into the pond, and then have them walk over and apologize. I'm impressed that my dad still has the Voice.