Kids Not Allowed Restaurant Policy-do you agree? (Howe: schools, restaurants)

[Bubba Poindexter]

After patronizing a rather nice restaurant over the weekend and being mentally violated by two little banshees in the booth next to us: a little boy peering over the booth staring deeply into my face while I tried to enjoy my appetizer (cute and funny for the first 15-20 seconds then a bit unnerving after a minute to a minute and a half of not breaking that stare) THEN commencing to make spit bubbles in his mouth AND popping them with his fingers. This was further exacerbated by his sister who whined and had a tantrum of some sort every on/off minute when her mother tried to persuade her to eat. The" little princess" pushed the plate onto the floor! With that distraction, the little boy adroitly contorted himself out of his family's booth and found his way directly beside me... with that stare again. These were not infants by any means The parents were more concerned with trying to reason with their kids than taking the "walk of death" to the bathroom to make sure the problem was nipped in the bud (I survived this during my one instance of failing to lack concept of "action/consequence" in a public setting. My mother was the judge and executioner. My 3 y/o son apparently suffered this same genetic predisposition as his formally expressive father when he decided to get up from the table for no reason and make a mad dash into the kitchen at Pappasito's knocking over a tray of sodas in the process years ago. Neither of us had a problem afterwards- my son's mother took on the executioner role this time around.

I immediately knew then that my next reservation would be at La Fisheria.

All this to say how do you feel about restaurants banning kids after a certain hour?

[DSL_PWR]

Yes I do agree. I think restaurants should ban children under a certain age after 7 pm and earlier on weekends.

Also, children should not be allowed in bar areas of any restaurant at any time. PF Chang's already does not allow children in the bar area which is great.

[20yrsinBranson]

When we are being seated my husband always asks for the "no screaming children" section. Well mannered children are no problem for me, but they are as rare as hen's teeth these days.

I am all for bans. Period.

20yrsinBranson

[Kiovo]

I am all for it and I have two little ones. And my kids are very well behaved in public. It sucks when you pay a babysitter to watch your kids so you can have a nice date night for it to be ruin by the sound of a crying or loud kid at a nice restaurant.

[stan4]

I have a 2 year old who sits quietly, but I think there should be many more kid-free places - including teenagers.

Teen boys are far more annoying than toddlers in many, many venues.

[blkgiraffe]

I'm all for it. Parents don't realize how annoying screaming children are. I try not to say anything though because you never know what someone is going through. However, it's still awfully annoying.

[chris_ut]

I only attend venues that allow landowning white males to enter.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

I only attend venues that allow landowning white males to enter.

I thought that was a given.

[Oildog]

I agree whole heartedly. I don't patronize kid friendly establishments as I don't want to be bothered by them. As for restaurants I think 7pm is a good 'shutdown' window for them, unless they are well behaved and over 12. If they are unruly, maybe the parents should pick up the dinner tab of those guests that were offended.

Seems too many parents try to rationalize or discuss behavior with little kids, instead of 'addressing the problem' in a parent/child manner. (Yes, that means a trip to the restroom or car). This same type of 'discipline' has led to problems in our schools over the past 20 years, but that's another topic.

[xsatyr]

I don't really agree about the 7pm thing considering that is one of the most popular dinner reservation times. That's still pretty early.