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I remember years ago when I worked as a Security Officer we had several very nice eating establishments with spacious patio seating.
It never failed to amaze me why the parents would sit down and eat and allow their children ( under aged 10) to leave the enclosed patio area and run around the property, play in the flower beds, etc....
Those were the days in which I was ready to resign. I got tired of telling the parents and children it's not appropriate behavior for the property.
I don't have any children so maybe there's something I'm not understanding about parenting.
Too much pop psychology and pseudo-wisdom makes for toxic parenting philosophies. Saying it's all due to the country forsaking religion is an easy answer... but looking at the past and comparing cultures across the globe... one does see that "the old ways" have some value too.
We've thrown out the baby with the bathwater (which was admittedly quite dirty).
LOL I live in Texas and my daughter and I have a grading system based on (gasp) race or ethnicity when it comes to whether kids in general are well behaved or not. (Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.)
From best behaved to worst, GENERALLY SPEAKING:
African American
White Non Hispanic
Asian
Hispanic
Middle Eastern boys
I know - there are others. I also know this may be considered terrible by some people but I don't care.
I remember years ago when I worked as a Security Officer we had several very nice eating establishments with spacious patio seating.
It never failed to amaze me why the parents would sit down and eat and allow their children ( under aged 10) to leave the enclosed patio area and run around the property, play in the flower beds, etc....
Those were the days in which I was ready to resign. I got tired of telling the parents and children it's not appropriate behavior for the property.
I don't have any children so maybe there's something I'm not understanding about parenting.
It depends on what you mean by "unleashed." As a parent, my main job is to prepare my kids for adulthood and being on their own, no? So you start small. Which means, in a restaurant, they can go find the bathroom on their own. They can go wander around a garden or outside area if there is one. They can quietly go check out displays such as the live-lobster tank or what not.
As long as they are not being loud or destructive and ruining your lunch or tripping up the waiter, why shouldn't they "branch out" from being at my side in a relatively safe and confined space?
Wow some very judgmental people here on how kids behave. Im guessing some of you don't have kids, it's been a while since you had kids or you lucked out and got very mild mannered kids. It's normal for kids to not want to sit for long periods of time. This is why there are kid friendly restaurants. My son is 7 now and has calmed down but when he was younger we often didn't go out to eat. He didnt enjoy sitting there while we ate and wasn't all that interested in his own food. After a while it just didnt seem worth going out to eat for what the experience often ended up being. My daughter was much easier.
I say it's not fair to drag a kid out to eat expecting that you can just sit there and eat your food without having to do anything-so stay home. Clearly other people get bothered by children who act up as well. Each kid is different. Just because your kid sat there quietly and ate without making noise doesn't make your kid any better than one who didnt.
It's easy enough to get a child to behave in a restaurant.
Explain about what behavior is expected before you go in so the child knows what is acceptable. Take a coloring book and ask the waitress to bring some bread to the table immediately, so the child isn't hungry enough to be unhappy. Remove the child to sit in the car of he can't behave. Order something the child likes to eat, perhaps a treat that he doesn't get at home to make sure the child enjoys the meal and has a good experience.
If you have a child who can not behave in public, then get a babysitter or eat at Micky Dee's and stay out of sit down restaurants until your child matures enough to behave.
Social introvert, there is a huge difference between a child who stands quietly and watches the lobster tank and a child who is running up and down and screaming and tearing up flower beds. No one is complaining about a kid who walks himself to the bathroom.
LOL I live in Texas and my daughter and I have a grading system based on (gasp) race or ethnicity when it comes to whether kids in general are well behaved or not. (Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.)
From best behaved to worst, GENERALLY SPEAKING:
African American
White Non Hispanic
Asian
Hispanic
Middle Eastern boys
I know - there are others. I also know this may be considered terrible by some people but I don't care.
I definitely disagree with this. The beauty of having worked as a Security officer on a diverse property is you get to see it all.
Black kids and white kids were running in a close tie.
The others on the list never displayed inappropriate behavior on the property where I worked.
I was going to say that girls seem to overall be easier to control than boys when they're little (also been my experience with my kids) but figured I'd get slammed for that.
I remember years ago when I worked as a Security Officer we had several very nice eating establishments with spacious patio seating.
It never failed to amaze me why the parents would sit down and eat and allow their children ( under aged 10) to leave the enclosed patio area and run around the property, play in the flower beds, etc....
Those were the days in which I was ready to resign. I got tired of telling the parents and children it's not appropriate behavior for the property.
I don't have any children so maybe there's something I'm not understanding about parenting.
Most parents allow their children to run wild because it's easier.
Another consideration is that parents go out more and bring their children to places where they would not have a generation or two ago. My parents are boomers. Very few parents would go out or would have a family member watch them when they were little. I’m an early millennial. When I was growing up, we would have a babysitter.
I think it’s just mostly people are out more and maybe their children aren’t that much worse behaved than in the past.
I think some parents enjoy having their kids bother others. Especially when they realize the others are bothered. That episode of sex in the city just came to mind when the kid throws his pasta at Samantha
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