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I absolutely HATE the thought that kids should be allowed to scream in less expensive restaurants because, "What do you expect from places like that?" (Not quoting anyone in particular!)
It really sounds like some people mean that poorer parents are worse parents and that people with less money do not deserve a nice dinner out sometimes.
Screaming, yelling, shouting, running around, jumping on the seat... none of these things are allowed in restaurants period. Why any parent would BE OKAY WITH their child doing any of these things because "oh, that's just what kids do" or whatever is beyond me.
It's happened to us several times at casual restaurants, but only once or twice at high end places, and both times, the server and then management asked the people to leave. The last time it happened was at a place called Del Frisco's in Dallas. It was during the weekend of Valentine's Day no less, back in 2015. So you had all these people with reservations for a romantic dinner... and then these two utterly clueless people brought an 18 month/2 yr old with them.
They got seated a few tables over from us, the kid started acting up, and pretty soon the entire dining room was staring daggers at them. Not once did they pick their kid up and try to take him outside or to the bathroom to calm him down. After about 5 minutes of it, one of the servers told them they would need to quiet down their child if they wished to remain. Another 5 minutes went by and the manager came over with their food boxed up, said it was on the house, but they needed to leave.
After they left he went around to each table in the area apologizing and we got a dessert comped. Everyone was so happy though that the child and his parents were gone that I'm sure they more than made up for it by ordering another bottle of wine, appetizers, etc.
I did see a simular situation happen in a real nice restaurant in Hi. A baby was yelling and fidgeting. I did feel sorry for him because they all looked like they just arrived to the hotel(restaurant was inside the hotel) he looked like he had enough of being still and tired. Their dinner was boxed up and had to leave. That baby needed a bath and in his Jammies and room service.
I saw another family with a toddler and one of the parents took him for a walk till their dinner arrived and he was a happy little sweetie.
Well, this is the problem. Because the parents who let their kids disrupt other diners at low end and noisy restaurants also go to quiet and high end restaurants and let their kids do the same thing. Those restaurants then ban children under the age of 12 or 18 or whatever, and parents scream discrimination. You can't win.
I bet if you started a thread asking how many members at CD went to an expensive quiet restaurant and were disturbed by a someone's screaming kid, half the people here would tell you it's happened to them.
I've only ever been bothered by annoying adults at upscale restaurants. But chances are half these people get their panties in a wad if a kid simply shows up at the next table.
We went to Chicago for a weekend when our oldest was 3 months old. Stayed at the Peninsula. He was a quiet baby and fell asleep around 6 for the night. They had a very nice restaurant. We called ahead. Asked about bringing him down asleep in his car seat. He slept through the whole meal. Older couple next to us complained loudly about him the whole time. Complained that we had a window table. The restaurant finally moved them, comped our meal, and sent us a tray full of deserts later that night because we had to put up with that. Our son never made a peep because he was already asleep for the night. We were prepared with the restaurant to have our meal sent via room service if he woke up. Sometimes the overly sensitive parent judgers just are self centered narcissistic twits.
10-month-olds don't belong in that kind of place, either. For a child that young, all that noise would be overstimulation and even scary. No wonder they end up screaming their heads off.
I don't disagree. I have an almost 10-month-old and would never take him to Texas Roadhouse. He can get overstimulated easy.
I am truly amazed how dumb some of these parents are. No one wants to hear your dumb kid screaming and running around the place like you are at home...I've had peoples kids at Costco climbing into my cart with their parents just smiling. These people should NOT be allowed to breed more of their idiocy into the world.
I am a father to two, a grandfather to 6. I do know a thing or two about babies and children. My kids and grandkids are/were never perfect, and we all knew it. As they got a little older, their behaviors improved. Until then, they were not allowed to irritate people in public places ... although they irritated us to no end at times!
I have never been bothered by a child out in public, but I have been bothered by their parents. Any behavior by a baby or young child is not to be considered unusual. It's just what kids and babies DO. It is the reaction - or lack of it - from the parents that is upsetting. And the attitudes of these parents, 'hey nitwit, get a clue! I can't control this kid, so just deal with it!'.
This never used to be an issue. Parents used to take pride in their children's behavior, as a reflection upon themselves. A lot of them still do. I continue to see well-behaved kids of all ages in public. It's not like those skills have been lost.
But it's when I see the loud ones, the uncontrolled ones, that I wonder, how did the parents of this child fail him?
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