Kids in fancy restaurants.......

I'm the same way. If I take my children to any kind of restaurant I expect them to behave and not act like animals. I would expect other parents to do the same but it never seems to work that way. I took my son to McDonalds the other day, I know it was only McDonalds but, there was a little boy about 4 and he was at my table taking my kids fries, and trying to take his nuggets. I finally had to say something to the mother. I couldn't believe it. She was just letting him run loose and handle peoples food. I'd of picked up my son and walked out

I agree with you totally!! There is nothing more irritating that kids misbehaving and making other people feel uncomfortable. I believe that teaching kids good manners begins at home though. My son has always been taught to say please and thank you and to respect other people. We also sit at the table to eat on week nights so that he is able to learn proper table manners. It's much easier to plonk him in front of the TV while I carry on with something else but then how could I expect him to know how to behave when we went to a restaurant. I think many parents nowadays, with work and other pressures, are inclined to opt for the easy way out and just leave their kids to their own devices.

I couldn't agree more. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but, there are place where they don't belong. A fancy, expensive restaurant is one of them. If they can't behave, I don't want them there. I don't mind so much in a Red Lobster or some other family restaurant, but, when my husband and I are going for a special night out, and paying a couple of hundred bucks for dinner, I don't want to be disrupted.

I must thank you first to think like that and thankyou more if you are also going to implement these thoughts in action..!!! :) I seriosly get very irritated when we get such children at our side in an expensive eating outlet..!! Or even some senior citizens who don't know how to eat our how to talk softly in public..!! I would do the same with my children and will warn them that I'll not take them out anymore if they are going to behave like that in public. To some extent its ok but sometimes theres a limit ..!! I seriously get tempeted to take the incharge of those kids and teach them to behave. :)

You know ideally you have put across a valid point but somehow I feel there should some concession in our mind for the kids. After all there is some difference between adults and kids !! If they behave well like us all the time, they wouldn't be kids! I am not saying parents shouldn't stop their kids from misbehaving when their children disturb others in fancy places, just that we should be more tolerant of kids. There have been times when some kid comes to me and offers a spoon in a restaurant, instead of feeling irritated on being disturbed I talk to the kid for a minute and never do I blame the parents, they try their best but sometimes kids are very unpredictable. I know i differ in opinion with most people here but i strongly feel kids deserve their childhood, let them not be so disciplined that they appear programmed robots ! we expect too much out of them...

I agree with you 100%. More annoying than the unruly kids are the parents that sit there and do nothing at all to correct their childrens behavior. i don't get it. I left stores and restraunts when my kids acted out. It wasn't just for consideration of others tho that played a part in it but also to teach my kids that certain behavior just would not be tolerated. It did not take them long to get the message.

Same here and this happens all the time in cinema halls too. I see young parents coming in late, stepping on your toes in the darkness to go to their seats and then when you have once again settle down to watching, the baby starts brawling or the kid starts fidgeting. I mean I rarely go to a movie hall with my child if its not a children movie and if I do go, then my son knows that he has to talk in very soft voice and he cant get up before the break and no, he cant make noises with the chips bag and cola. But I find many children and their over-indulgent parents and if you do ask them to calm the child they will give you a most surprise look as if to say children will be children! And it’s the same in restaurants too. Either they wont eat quietly, or they have finished and cant sit at one place, or they want to go to the washroom, or something else and you can have no peace while they are around.

My children are older but, when they were younger and we went out to eat they were well behaved. I do have to admit, we did not go out as often as families do now. I have a grand daughter and she is four now. Her behavior is great, there have been times she got loud! But she GOES all the time! I notice the rowdy children alot and wonder WHY the parents let them roam and even play in the restaurants. I guess it is so the parents can sit and enjoy the meal. I do find it annoying. Apologize? That would be nice! I do hate it when the parents sit there and Yell at the kids or threaten to do something and never do.

Children need to be taught manners and proper table etiquette and social graces. When they are at a public resturant or other public places they should behave and have respect for other people around them. Years ago when my children were small we were in the middle of moving. We had driven 300 miles and still had 150 to go we decided to stop for something to eat at a smorgesboard resturant. The children were all very tired from the long drive. We have four children and the oldest at the time was 9 the youngest 4. The children were very well behaved and polite. Just as we were finishing the mangager came to our table and said "I am returning your money for the meal". He had seen us pull up with our car and the moving van. He said, It is so refreshing to see young children well behaved and with good manners even after a long trip and in the middle of a move". He then went on to tell us that two days earlier Washington state then Govenor Dixie Lee Ray had been in with her grandchildren and they had behaved obnoxiously and were rude to other patrons and to the workers. They were older children as well. He said he was appalled at how a public servants and govenor of the state would allow her grandkids to act like animals in a barnyard. Our children have taught our grandchildren good behavior and manners as well and we are proud to take them out to a nice resturant any time and often get compliments from others on how well such young children behave. The youngest is age 3 and he is not loud, rude or messy for his age. The oldest is 12 and all the children say please, thank you and excuse me. I do not like it when parents do not discipline or make their children behave. Once in a store not long ago two children were running down an aisleway and bumped into an elederly lady with a walker. They knocked her down and did not even stop to help her up or see if she was okay. The mother just said girls get back here stop running and ignored the lady. I helped her up, she was very shaky and upset and crying other people helped and got the manager who helped her to a place to sit. The mother did not even apologize she just went down another aisle and ignored the whole thing. A few minutes later I saw the mom and girls across the store and the girls were playing hide and seek among the clothes racks. I went to the mom and asked why she didn't make her kids behave. She just nastily told me to mind my own buisness and leave her kids alone to have fun. When I asked why she did not do anything about her girls knocking over the lady she said the old bat needs to watch where she is going and not take up the whole aisle. How rude. Where did she think they were at the park? She did not care at all.

We don't take our little boy to fancy restaurants, but we expect him to behave no matter where we take him. He just turned 2, but he already knows that he can't leave the table without us, and that he must say please and thank you to the waitstaff. I don't understand why parents don't teach their kids that by the time they turn 4 or 5 for sure! My son does fuss sometimes when we are at a restaurant, but a toy or book or something calms him down within about 30 seconds if the food is slow or something. Parents should be prepared for that and bring a toy or book for small children.

i hate seeing children like this, even in a grocery store. right now my daughter is only 14 months old, so she doesn't know anything. but when we go places, and she starts to make a noise we are VERY quick to tell her and show her that what she is doing is NOT acceptable. once she gets older, if she were to continue to act like that i would take her outside until she told me she wasn't going to act like that anymore. and if she continues i would leave. it sucks to have to leave because of a child, but it sucks even more for the guests that are there trying to enjoy a dinner.

Unfortunately, in our society today, too many parents do just let their kids do what they want and act out in public, and it's not just restaurants. I brought my children up to know how to behave in public, be that the store, or a restaurant, or wherever. They never once acted out, and for that I am thankful. I'm not sure what I did to make them this way, they just never threw the tantrums or ran around restaurants or things like that. I guess it goes to show that if you bring them up showing them proper behavior, they will know instinctively what is acceptable. Lead by example. I just want to ring the necks of parents who let their kids run around in restaurants and throw tantrums in the stores. I think if you were to go these people's homes, you would most likely see the same behavior from the child. They are getting away with it at home so why wouldn't they think they could do it in public.

You are absolutely right. I think that it is vitally important that children are taught how to behave when they are out. Eating nicely, not running about and learning to respect others is essential if they are to grow up properly. We took our daughter with us to restaurants from newborn and I am pleased to say that she now knows instinctively how to behave. We actually stopped taking her to family restaurants because too many of the other children there were unrestrained. She couldn't work out why it was OK for the children at the next table to run about, and she wasn't. These days I find that we are increasingly having to make allowances for other people's children's bad behaviour. In the UK children were never allowed into pubs. Over the past 10-15 years this has changed; but parents seem to be less concerned about their children antisocial behaviors than they use to be. So now, pubs are slowly swinging back again.

You are a person after my own heart. When my kids werelittle we also trained them to behave when we went out to fancy restaurants and I still expect others with kids to train them likewise. I detest eating in a place where kids are being noisy and misbehaving. It spoils what is a special time for you and yours and shows how inconsidrate some people are and how little they have trained their kids to think of others.

oh some times it would be so nice if you could take that kid out and give them a good spanking.If yours that is. we was at SAms town a casino here eatting out the other day and I was watchuing this table where one women would carry the baby around and go like she was throwing the baby at momma but momma had her go back ans set down as she wanted to eat and the other woman had finished eatting . this was a small baby but if they do that a grown person how does it teach the little one not to do things like this when they get older!

All I know is that there are lots of these disrespectful kids out there yet not too many parents brave enough to admit it. Considering I see so many people here who support your views on this and claim to do the same I wonder if the parents of the children who do this will even speak out. Well.... Though I do rarely ever eat out anywhere, (couple times a year to a fast food joint) I have a few times taken my three children to fine restaurants. Though now they are 6 8 and 12 and behave well, one didn't always... My middle child is special needs. He has several difficulties including speech, vision, and also behavioral. When he was smaller his pain sensors were not responding as good as today. He has seriously harmed himself, property and others not being aware that he was hurting them. He did act out in restaurants. Run and scream and all the bad behavior that is very disruptive. I was always right near him trying to teach him how to behave and to make sure everyone was safe. I also apologize to other people there. It was such a challenging time in our lives I am glad that he has overcome many of those difficulties. Most people have always seen my son and knew he has challenges and were very respectful about the difficulties, but the very small percent of people just labeled him as bad and poorly raised, even though his older sister who is raised by the same people is an honors French immersion student in band and has never had any behavioral issues at the 8 years of school she has had so far attended. I am not saying it isn't frustrating to go out expecting to have a certain type of evening and have it disturbed by someone. Though I think it would be nice for a parent to apologize for disturbing others, maybe she is just so overburdened that she forgets. Truth is I don't know and can't judge it.

I wish there were more parents like you! I heard of a restaurant (the owner requested the talk show host not name the establishment) that had a sign on a closet door that said "spanking closet". He said he rarely saw a child get out of hand after he put that sign up! I, too, taught my children manners while dining out. My boys are grown now. I always make it a point to compliment parents whose children are well-behaved in public places.