Children in Restaurants

[vole]

Maybe they should make available a boxing glove on the end of a stick like they do tooth picks and suchlike? Maybe to use on adults who persist on swearing around your family which to me is more commonplace than rowdy kids.

[Imperfection]

Anyways, 5 mins later we are on our way home and he's off to bed.

 

and thats the key bit-discipline.

 

Anyhoo,the way i see it-if you go to McDonalds and there are children kicking off in there then tough cos its a kiddie orientated place.However,if its a conventional restaurant then the parents should do everything they can to prevent other diners from being irritated and if that dont work then they must all leave.

Edited June 21, 2010 by Imperfection

[mpk]

Well my kids (the older ones) are realy well behaved and this is not becase of slapping etc but as mungler said they no the lines and they would not cross them. All it takes is one eye from the missus and there you go sorted . The same happens when she does it to me . But my daughter on the other hand is still to young to understand (18 months) so i restrain from taking her out to dinner anytime after 6pm .The reason behind this is because i know that she will start yapping and until she is old enough to know '' the lines'' . Most people go out at this time to relax and chill and they dont need my daughter shouting and calling everything a cat , But the older ones i would take out when ever. And to be perfectly honest how ever harsh it may seem , If im going out for something to eat its usually with me and the missus ONLY !! when nanny has the children im out of there like a flash . :blink:

[pyr8]

not just restaurants, supermarkets are treated as playgrounds these days.elbowing a child in the head is a bit crude though.a hand held tazer is much more suttle and very effective.

[carlosdesilva]

not just restaurants, supermarkets are treated as playgrounds these days.elbowing a child in the head is a bit crude though.a hand held tazer is much more suttle and very effective.

I tried a big bag of sweets as a bribe to behave,banned from most shops and restaurants and on some special register now! :blink:

[Bloke]

No i would remove the offending missile to stop the problem (common sense) but as for the noise making please if you know how to make a baby stop making noise let me know i could do with some sleep sometimes.

 

As a father and foster parent I take your point - however, if a child is either too young or too ill-behaved to stop screaming etc in venues such as cinemas, restaurants etc, then don't take them there! If that means parents don't go out socialising till their children are older, tough! I didn't take my kids out to places such as this till they were old enough to understand the word No! - or I apologised to the others in the place and took the offending child out immediately. Half-eaten meals or half-watched films were some of the penalties I gladly paid for the wonderful people that my children are to me, I did not expect everyone else in the world to put up with my child if it had a tantrum etc.

 

I am sorry if I seem to be having a go - no offence meant, nothing personal, just ranting.

 

 

-- it's just there are some parents out there....Grrrrrr!! :blink: .

[shaun4860]

Interestingly, we went out once and number 1 son kicked up. I said to him "Pack it in, or you will go home and you will be sent to bed for the rest of the day".

 

Anyways, 5 mins later we are on our way home and he's off to bed.

 

Do you know what, he has never ever done it since.

 

Parents these days just refuse to instigate discipline. It's not about knocking the daylights out of them, it's about them understanding where the lines are and doing as they are told.

 

Why are there badly behaved kids? Answer, because it is easier. It is the path of least resistance to say yes or let them do whatever it is that they want to do. That is not being a good parent, that is just giving in.

 

 

That in my humble childless opinion is the correct way to handle the situation (although a quick elbow might be tempting :blink: )

 

If your child causes trouble to other diners then the offending parents should have the good grace to apologise and then leave thus leaving the other diners to enjoy their meals...

 

shaun

[shaun4860]

Hang on a minute....... you do not know me or my children nor have you any idea how they behave in public.... Trust me, my childeren are well behaved and in control 'most of the time' but as any parent will tell you, unless you are Ned Flanders or ZB, sometimes, a 2 and a half year old will decide he wants to do a bit of excersise during a meal, the alternative is to strap him down and let him scream (very loudly) for a very long time... what do you suggest we do, abandon the meal and leave or should we just wait for another well meaning patron to smash him in the face with her elbow!!!!!

 

 

yes thats exactly what you should do, but on the other hand you maybe should have known better than take a 2 year old into an adults eatery....their are plenty child based ones when you know what you are getting into...

 

shaun :blink:

[Bluebarrels]

Good restauraunt for urban terrorists,McDonalds :blink: BB

Edited June 21, 2010 by Bluebarrels

[MITCHF]

Wow that was an exhausting read

4 pages of debate, some heated and really funny :blink:

 

Anyway, I'm knackered and hungry.

 

Me and the Boss are going to BBQ the kids

[carlosdesilva]

Wow that was an exhausting read

4 pages of debate, some heated and really funny :blink:

 

Anyway, I'm knackered and hungry.

 

Me and the Boss are going to BBQ the kids

Just make sure you do it quitely and keep them under control!

[bigt1754]

This is the best thread ever.........oh yeah :blink:

[Fatcatsplat]

We bought some of the dog shock collars cheap off this welsh bloke in a pub and i must say they work a treat - slightest noise out of the kids and it's a quick 100 volts into their neck. Once they've picked themselves up and smoothed their hair back down i have noticed a distinct improvement in both their behaviour and retrieving skills. Wished i'd bought some years ago.

[mpk]

Wow that was an exhausting read :o

4 pages of debate, some heated and really funny :blink:

 

Anyway, I'm knackered and hungry.

 

Me and the Boss are going to BBQ the kids B)

 

 

We bought some of the dog shock collars cheap off this welsh bloke in a pub and i must say they work a treat - slightest noise out of the kids and it's a quick 100 volts into their neck. Once they've picked themselves up and smoothed their hair back down i have noticed a distinct improvement in both their behaviour and retrieving skills. Wished i'd bought some years ago.

 

 

 

 

[cowboy1403]

i have 3 kids 15,13 and 7 all girls,i wouldn`t think twice about taking them to a proper resturant.they started of by going to mcdonalds when they had mastered that and could sit through the whole meal without making a scene or playing up then were alloud to go elsewhere.when other diners coment on there good behavier then you know your doing somthing right.

[Breastman]

My children (4 & 5) know that throwing things and running about is not acceptable. However my daughter, the younger of the two, can have the odd tantrum over everything and anything, in which case we normally, somehow, escort her somehere quiet until she calms down. We do limit ourselves to child friendly resturants/pubs or one Michelin star resturants and leave the three star resturants to when we are on our own :blink:

 

With children under two you are in the hands of the gods as to whether they will behave or not so we tended not to eat out until they were a bit older

 

AVB

 

 

Our children were always exceptionally well behaved in restaurants, as they weren't taken in one until they were about 7-8 years old, old enough to understand and behave.

They saw it as a treat and new misbehaviour meant they wouldn't be getting another treat anytime soon.

 

It was my wife that got drunk and started the fights.

 

 

As a father and foster parent I take your point - however, if a child is either too young or too ill-behaved to stop screaming etc in venues such as cinemas, restaurants etc, then don't take them there! If that means parents don't go out socialising till their children are older, tough! I didn't take my kids out to places such as this till they were old enough to understand the word No! - or I apologised to the others in the place and took the offending child out immediately. Half-eaten meals or half-watched films were some of the penalties I gladly paid for the wonderful people that my children are to me, I did not expect everyone else in the world to put up with my child if it had a tantrum etc.

 

I am sorry if I seem to be having a go - no offence meant, nothing personal, just ranting.

 

 

-- it's just there are some parents out there....Grrrrrr!! B) .

 

 

 

Your decision to have children is noones responsibility but your own. :o

 

Mark

[Psyxologos]

Hmmm have you got children doc. I take my kids out to eat all the time and sometimes they do get a bit carried away and to be honest if anyone said anything to me i would just laugh at them and tell them im paying as much as you and if you dont like it tough.

 

Obviously for the most part my children are well behaved but having a 13 month old baby unfortunatly he does not understand (at 21 month old its hard for them to understand) that making a noise might upset someone else.

 

thats my opinion anyway

 

Well said. It is just children. As long as the parents are doing their best is all good with me.

[Psyxologos]

It's funny, I get annoyed and angry when I go into a restaurant and end up sitting near to a grumpy, annoying old g.i.t. (don't know why it's always the older ones!) who chunter and complain all the way through a meal and then complain about nothing at the end of it. They probably do it every time they go out... in reality, they would probably best off staying at home and coocking pork chops just as they like 'em!!! If I were sat between 2 tables, one with a roudy family and one with a pair of meldrews.... I'll take the kids any day of the week!

 

:blink: :good:

[hendersons]

As somebody who works in a restaurant. I have seen this many times. While the restaurant I work in does not go out of it's way to encourage children, they are not made unwelcome and our staff have started to notice certain signs of the child becoming bored. As the child can not eat the same number of courses as the adults (around 5/6) of the table.They generally only have a main course and something small for dessert. So they are left for an awful long time with nothing to do or look at. So we find that while the parents and other grownups are engaged in adult conversation the child gets more bored/noisy and as soon as we notice any signs of trouble we tend to leave it to the parents at first and if nothing comes of this we then produce things like pencils or a book to keep them occupied. If the parents are looking like being in the restaurant for a while or the child is particuarly loud or they carry on after pencils and things have been produced.For the sake of the other guests we move them to somewhere quiter or more comfy and we give them a laptop with a dvd to watch. We have had to do these things on a number of occaisions and the parents,kids and other guests have always benn very grateful.

So i suppose my top tip would be always take some sort of stimulus for your child and only let them use it just before they start to kick off i'm sure you can see this starting to happen so get in with a pre-emptive strike.

Incedently we would never ban children from our restaurant because we beleive it a great thing to help educate children in food and restaurants so they will know after a few visits and with age how to behave. We also just do smaller portions of what the adults eat so hopefully they will learn to like real food and realise that not everything has to be covered in breadcrumbs and dinosaur shaped

 

hope what I have said makes sense Nick

[roadkill]

im with you doc , i have two children one who is six and one who is still a baby and when we go out i expect the older one to be very well behaved and he never lets me down and when the baby gets to his age she will be the same .

[Kent Militia]

... and if nothing comes of this we then produce things like pencils or a book to keep them occupied. If the parents are looking like being in the restaurant for a while or the child is particuarly loud or they carry on after pencils and things have been produced.For the sake of the other guests we move them to somewhere quiter or more comfy and we give them a laptop with a dvd to watch. We have had to do these things on a number of occaisions and the parents,kids and other guests have always benn very grateful.

 

Yes I remember working in a Travel Inn with a Brewers Fayre restaurant on the ground floor. Initially we had a children's area with play facilities and all the time I would have to take care of kids who were left on their own devices by parents who were too busy or who didn't care what their child was doing. I ended up playing catch with them, face painting and making up silly games. As long as you keep children occupied, sometimes it takes a lot of work but it does work and children usually calm down or find something meaningful to do.

[MM]

for the past 3 weeks, ive had to bit my tongue when it comes to eating out. Being a bit a Disney type dad (you know the ones ) im all for taking kids into a resturant. What im not a fan of, is people letting their offspring run riot around the buffet table whilst im debating of what sauce to have on my pork chops. My two give me that look now and again. You know the one, it has a double meaning. One side of them is thinking, "Will my dad let me act like that?" and the other is thinking "Does my dad think i act like that?" Even at five years old, my daughter has enough manners and sense not to act like Tarzan whilst people are comsuming the mother of all cheesecakes. Its the same on trains and planes with me. I understand people have to travel, but please keep them under a reasonable amount of control. Bad behaviour reflects the attitudes of the parents. There is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher.

[ME]

As a child I my parents taught me respect for others and the social graces of how to behave whilst at a restaurant. I ate out with my parents and brother at restaurants all over the world from a very young age.

 

I have taught this respect & good behaviour to our 10 and 7 year old. We are often complimented on our childrens good behaviour and would confidently take them to any restaurant. They arent Rod & Tod Flanders like Zapps kids but they know how to behave in different circumstances. There are times to run riot and be noisey and there are times to behave - and they have been taught the difference.

 

It all comes down to parenting - including reward and consequence. You hear too many namby-pamby parents making their kids empty threats of a consequence and not backing it up.

[DSPUK]

Excellent thread - I am totally on one side of the argument here.

 

Dave

[Dirty Harry]

Just to say that if anyone elbowed or tripped my kids up in a resturant I would beat the **** out of them. I am their father and if someone had a problem with them then they could speak to me about it but if they touched my kids then they would regret it.

I would not tollerate bad behaviour from my boys so it would be unlikley to get that far.

 

Harry