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Agree. I've been working with the public for over 5 years. I see kids banging on the windows of the business I work at, incessantly, while their parents don't do a thing about it. I've seen/heard kids repeatedly ringing the doorbell to the business I work at, while their parents don't do a thing. I've seen kids rudely grab the item I'm serving them out of my hand and not say please or thank you, I've seen them demand things from me and their parents don't even try to correct them
I understand that kids will be kids. In most of these situations, kids were acting like normal kids, impatient, curious, lack of courtesy, or maybe a bit more devilish than normal, but the problem was they were not being disciplined. They weren't being told to stop banging their hands on the all glass windows of the place I work, because not only was it rattling the glass and making an annoying banging noise, but they were getting their finger and handprints all over the glass (which, partly because of this reason, is impossible to keep clean). They weren't being told to stop ringing the damn bell because we were open and there's no need to ring the bell when people are right there to help you, so everyone inside has to hear the bell ring again and again and again. They weren't being told to take things nicely from a stranger's hand, and say please or thank you. They weren't told that it is rude to literally demand something from a complete stranger, even if that stranger is there to serve you. I see it every single time I work - any or all of these things.
Kids become truly annoying only when their parents don't take the proper course of action to stop their inappropriate behavior. Just because a kid is 2 and may not understand that she shouldn't be crying in a restaurant full of people trying to enjoy a meal they paid for, doesn't mean you should just let her sit there and cry. Try to calm her down, explain to her the situation, and if nothing works, take her out of the place. IMHO some parents feel entitled by the very fact that they have a kid. It doesn't work that way. There are social norms. Social norms include not having to listen to a screaming two year old for 10-40 minutes in a restaurant. Social norms include being aware of the situation and removing your crying child ASAP if you cannot get her to stop. The parents' response was: well, kids who are hungry and waiting for their food cry. Okay. At your house, in private, where other people don't have to hear, fine, if you want to let your kid cry whenever she can't get something right at this moment. But in a public restaurant, not fine. Bring a snack to tide her over, then. Remove her from the room until the food comes if she really won't stop. Or, better yet, feed her the food she was served, because the owner claims the parents didn't give the kid the pancakes right away, for whatever reason.
Yet this is somehow the owner's fault. The owner, who owns the place, and can make basically whatever decisions she wants, with possible consequences yes, but she has that freedom. If she wanted to yell at the kid, I support it. The parents don't like it, they can leave and never come back, and give the place a bad review, and tell their friends about the mean Marcy's Diner owner who wouldn't tolerate their crying child. That is their right.
People are acting like it's such a big deal that a stranger, or someone who's not the kid's parents, yelled at the kid. I think that, given certain circumstances (like this - the owner of the place), strangers are well within reason to yell at kids if their parents fail to do so, especially if what that kid is doing is directly affecting them. People can only handle so much. Strangers should never lay a hand on a kid, and some may argue parents shouldn't either, but yelling? Not a big deal to me. I was yelled at by many adults, family and not, when I did wrong - because I deserved it. I'm not traumatized by it, and it helped teach me proper behavior.
I see it too. Kids running around in stores - nearly colliding with glass displays, tearing up merchandise, and the parents not even paying attention. I told one kid in Macy's to stop when he was destroying a display. His mom was right beside him, busy talking to her friend. I've had kids sitting behind me on a plane kick the back of my seat and the parents just ignored it. Was at a baseball game an the kid behind me hit me in the head with a souvenir bat - his dad didn't say a word (he had a group of kids and they were so rowdy I eventually had to move). The worse though was at a restaurant where a large party with two smaller children let the kids totally run wild. At one point they were under by table on my feet! They nearly tripped the poor waitress who had a tray full of food. And in all of these cases - had the kids been hurt - say cut on a glass shelf in a store, trip the waitress and get hot food spilled on them, etc., you know they'd have sued the business.
There's a world of difference between not liking children and not liking a misbehaving child's behavior.
Actually you do your child no favors by letting him run amok. He will acquire more than his share of rude stares, angry remarks and even downright yelling. That's a sure path to raising a discouraged child.
It's for his own well-being that you restrain him from violating social norms.
There's a world of difference between not liking children and not liking a misbehaving child's behavior.
Actually you do your child no favors by letting him run amok. He will acquire more than his share of rude stares, angry remarks and even downright yelling. That's a sure path to raising a discouraged child.
It's for his own well-being that you restrain him from violating social norms.
The diner owner has a right to yell at anyone IMO. Sure it could be bad for business but the fact that she hasn't done this before points to an unusual situation. And being a diner owner, not a child care worker, means she doesn't really have to hold to the "never yell at a child!" mantra that some people hold as gospel. OF COURSE we are allowed to yell at children. It's ridiculous to think otherwise. I've yelled at kids before, they deserved it. And if you think that makes me a "child hater" you probably need to be yelled at too.
And the whole idea of any group of parents taking all their kids there "to teach her a lesson" proves some folks shouldn't be parents to being with. Idiots breed idiots.
PORTLAND (WGME) -- Some local mothers are planning to bring their young children to Marcy's Diner this Sunday to teach the diner's owner a lesson in tolerance. But others say the owner of that diner had every right to step in on behalf of her customers forced to sit through that tantrum. The controversy touched off a firestorm on social media as the diner's owner and the child's parents went at each other.
***We must educate this mean lady about our snowflakes!!
They're nuts....and looking for trouble...not to mention, taking their kids to something like that, to get even? Awful people....they shouldn't have kids!
They're nuts....and looking for trouble...not to mention, taking their kids to something like that, to get even? Awful people....they shouldn't have kids!
W do't they bring their snowflakes to Chuck E Cheese? Isn't that where a kid can be a kid???
W do't they bring their snowflakes to Chuck E Cheese? Isn't that where a kid can be a kid???
I don't hate kids, I raised two.
I don't either...I have a friend who is a teacher, and she tells me more then half the kids she's seen over the years, do not need to be on Riddlen, (I don't know how to spell that medicine) for anxiety problems, the problem is, behavior.
Parents don't know how to discipline or when to start....and it starts when they cry in the crib to be picked up...
I don't either...I have a friend who is a teacher, and she tells me more then half the kids she's seen over the years, do not need to be on Riddlen, (I don't know how to spell that medicine) for anxiety problems, the problem is, behavior.
Parents don't know how to discipline or when to start....and it starts when they cry in the crib to be picked up...
There is were I disagree, a baby needs to know it's basic needs will be met---Not everyone enjoys a wailing baby or a toddler's tantrum---so a parent needs to respond appropriately, either take the wailing child outside or bring the child to a place where it's okay and not disruptive to others.
It always amazes me how many non-parents see these terrible, devilish, horrible, vile children everyday of their lives. Poor people. I can count on one hand how many times I've seen truly terribly behaved children.
I don't blame the children, but I do blame the parents. We have lots of little ones in our family, and there have been lots of times one of them has had a tantrum in a restaurant...and in every case, mom or dad picks the baby up and says "we'll be right back" and takes them outside until the calm down. There is no excuse to force other patrons to have to listen to that while they are eating.
No we haven't. There are of course SOME people who may have that attitude, but I assure you the majority don't.
However, I voted "no" in your poll because the owner handled it wrong. Both parties were wrong in this case. The parents for not doing something about the child screaming non-stop and the owner for popping her cork. If the child was that much of a distraction, the owner should have spoken directly to the parents and handled it that way. Maybe even asked them to leave and comped the check.
I find it funny you are abhorred by the fact a 3 year old throws a fit in a restaurant, but find it perfectly acceptable for a 50 year old to throw one...
That is what I would have done
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Okay. At your house, in private, where other people don't have to hear, fine, if you want to let your kid cry whenever she can't get something right at this moment. But in a public restaurant, not fine. Bring a snack to tide her over, then. Remove her from the room until the food comes if she really won't stop. Or, better yet, feed her the food she was served, because the owner claims the parents didn't give the kid the pancakes right away, for whatever reason. 
