Rowdy Children not welcome in restaurant

[DesignFox]

Love the story BigJimaz.

I have no problem with babies and parents who properly try (as in Jim's story) to calm them down. Usually, I will just give the parent a sympathetic look. I have a lot of experience with kids- sometimes, with infants, there just isn't a damn thing you can do but wait until they wear themselves out.

Now, what I have a problem with is what the article mentioned. Children who are old enough to know better but misbehave anyway and/or their parents who ignore them. THAT I will not tolerate. I say the restaurant very tactfully made their point to their customers.

It seems to me that the only people who would be offended by that little sign are people I wouldn't want in my restaurant anyway. Kudos to that establishment for taking a stand. I'm sure their business is now booming- and their customer set is probably a lot less sucky. Hell, I'd eat there!

I'd probably also eat at that no children under 6 place. That policy is a bit extreme, but hey, sometimes adults just need a place to go without potential screamers.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

This is a great article, and I wish more restaurants would adopt a policy like that. As previously mentioned, it's one thing if it's an infant who cannot speak and have no general way to communicate other than cry, and the parent is making a good faith effort to quiet them. It's something completely different if the parent is ignoring the kid. As the article mentioned, these kids were scaling the wall of this restaurant-and that is completely unacceptable. The sign was well written and very P.C. so I see no reason for anyone to be offended. What's the big deal with being expected to keep your kids under control?

[XCashier]

"It was kinda groundbreaking," he said. "It's almost taboo. Children definitely are the one thing that you cannot speak against in our society. They are innately good. It's like speaking against nuns. You know what I mean?"

Children...innately good?

...oh, wait, he was serious.

Nobody is "innately good". If children, humanity in the raw, were innately good, we would not have to teach them to behave, they already would know how. You never have to teach a child to be bad, but you always have to teach them good behavior and proper manners.

I am the mother of a very active five year old boy, and I wholeheartedly approve of this restaurant's message. While my son is active, I will not allow him to run amok, smear food on the walls or upset the other patrons. If we have to get our food packaged to go and leave the restaurant, so be it. I don't want someone else's brats messing about with me, so why should I allow my son to ruin someone else's dining exprerience?

[Ryu]

for the kids in the streets, is it a neighborhood or an actual road?
when i was younger we played in the road of the neighborhood all the time without adults and if any cars came we moved until they passed and we made sure to not hit any other cars or houses
i guess kids no longer have that kind of respect or the adults are overreacting
obviously i dont know all the facts just throwing my opinion out there based on my experiences

[NightAngel]

Oh, sorry. The letter is not vague at all but apparently I am.
The letter is two pages long and I was just putting in some of the highlights.

blas-
I live in a large gated community. We have two swimming pools, jacuzi, tennis court, basketball court, lighted gazebo area, playground, etc. The vandalism has been to the aforementioned amenities. The tennis net has been ripped apart numerous times, the gazebo is full of graffitti and the lights have been ripped out of it. The tunnel slide and other playground equipment has graffitti. The picnic tables and benches have been destroyed. The brand new marble looking sign at the entrance has been damaged. That kid was caught though and is being prosecuted by the state attourney.

I get home around 1am. There are always gangs of kids between the ages of about 12 and 17 hanging out either in the gazebo or on the tennis courts. (I don't mean like "gangsta" just lots of kids.)

It's been damned near impossible to drive in or out of my community because of the children in the streets. And, honestly they do not get out of the way for oncoming traffic.
They fly into the middle of the road on bikes/skateboards from driveways and you can't see them until they are in the road in front of your car and your slamming on the breaks to keep from killing a child. I've had near misses more than a dozen times and I drive SLOW- keeping an eye out for them. I almost ran over the same 2 year old twice in the same day!

My son is not allowed to play in the road and he is watched at all times. If he breaks the rules he comes in for the rest of the day. It's hard on him because he winds up playing alone quite often when other kids are not even five feet away. But they're playing in the street and he knows if he does Dad or I will swoop down on him and make him come inside.

Honestly, how stupid do you have to be to have your children play in the street?!

[Reyneth]

I'm just remembering my childhood. We only went out to eat occasionally as money was tight, so it was a big treat. But despite only rarely being in restaurants, my sister and I knew how to behave. Being taken out to the car and missing dinner *once* did the trick. After that we learned there would be immediate consequences and more once we got home and there were never problems.

Why can't parents do that? Are they too afraid of being "meeeaaannn?" Doing their kids a big disservice, if you ask me.

[greensinestro]

SC: You're willing to lose my business for a bunch of tourists?
SO: Tourists are my best customers Rosie, and besides, I don't think losing the cost of 1 cup of coffee once a week will hurt me too bad.
ME:

That's all this no-good unworthy person does at that place of business? She's worried about that restaurant losing fifty-two cents a week because the owners refused to kick out a group of people they most likely will never see again? Has that lady ever thought of maybe eating something there?

[Andara Bledin]

I'm with MCSledgehammer. I have absolutely zero interest in kids other than a very, very few that are the children of people I know personally who I also know to be quite well-behaved (at least in public). As the saying goes, if I wanted to hear the patter of little feet in the house, I'd put shoes on my cat.

I'm totally with the owner of the shop in the OP. The sign he came up with is completely non-discriminatory. If you can't behave, then you're not welcome. Brilliant in its simplicity.

^-.-^

[RebeccaOTool]

I Caught that special, and all I could think of was this bord.

[Banrion]

Why is it so wrong for adults to want to go somewhere without the threat of being bothered by screaming hyper children?

You can't even go to the most upscale restaurant in our town (averages about $60.00 a person not including alcohol. Skirts, ties and jackets required. There is no kids menu.) w/o kids! Kids are great and all, and I love to play with the neighbor kids all the time, but sometimes I just want to go out an have a quiet adult evening. There is no escape though, because as soon as a business owner does something like this, there is outrage spawned by some vigilante soccer mom because she can't bring her precious schmoopy.

[myswtghst]

Throwing in my two cents.

When I was a kid, not too long ago, we didn't go to "nice" restaurants, unless we knew they were family friendly. We were well behaved kids, for the most part (I do own up to my desire to talk to strangers and climb on furniture) and we were disciplined for acting up when we went out, but for the most part, the parents knew to take us to places meant to handle kids our age. Chuckie Cheese's, McDonalds, things like that were treats to me, when I was little. And there kids are encouraged to have fun and run around.

If you want to have a nice dinner out, drop the bucks to have a sitter watch your little angels. There is a time and a place for kids, and I understand you can't always leave them at home, but you should do your best. It's the same in movie theaters---I can deal if your baby cries, but try to take it outside ASAP. Don't just sit there and pretend like it isn't happening.

I think in general, if you can't behave, you shouldn't be in a restaurant. The same way that a drunk should be kicked out of a bar for being raucous, a kid shouldn't be allowed to act like an idiot just because he/she is young.

[ArenaBoy]

I like kids when they behave but when I am out to eat a nice dinner the last thing I want to hear is a kid screaming and the parent is doing crap about it. Same goes for movies. The fact that they have to mention this before the movie starts sickens me somewhat. The town I currently live in has numerous fine restaurants, and they all have strict policies on kids. The sign that was posted in the OP isn't saying that all kids are banned from the cafe but that good behavior is expected. The offended parties are blowing this out of proportion and don't realize that good behavior is expected. The parties that are not offended (In this case parents) understand that.

Like I said, I love kids but lines have to be drawn and the guy who said kids have an innocence about them. He's right. The only reason some of us are snide about it is due to some of the events we've read on here and witnessed due to our jobs.

[i4wolves]

I would love to eat at a resturant like that.

It is not the children I have a problem with its the parents that do not parent their kids. If the parents would displine there children or atempt to do something I would be happy its the ones who ignore them is what gets me. I have a six year old goddaughter that I have taken to resturants all the time, since she was four, and she is very well behaved. Probably becuase one time at a resturant with some of one of my friends and her little girl, who was the same age, my goddaughter was acted up and would not sit still and got under the table and ran out of the booth. Needless to say we left immediatly and I apoligized to everyone and she got to sit in the car while my friend and her daughter eat their dinner and desert while she was in the car with me. She never did that again with me.

[greensinestro]

Rowdy children are one thing being we all have had that experience. How about those that bring their cellular phones and have louder than Niagara Falls conversations?

[AFpheonix]

I feel for workers having to deal with people with poor parenting skills. It's not the kids fault if the parent is unwilling to teach basic social skills. What bothers me about this is the good parents that do what they are supposed to do are being punished. This being said, I can relate a story about the flip side of the coin.

How are good parents being punished by a sign that reminds young'ins to use their indoor voices? If anything, I'd think it would be a good parent aid, as they would have something to point out to their children, as a reminder about what behavior is expected at that establishment.

But then, I'm not a mom, and I'm not planning on being one anytime soon.