Seems like more restaurants are tired of screaming kids

[Seahawk]

I had two child rearing philosophies: Do not inflict my children on others and long car trips are a *****.

As JD said, I can't remember taking my children to a restaurant before they were six and four. Frankly, we did the Au Pair thing and a Saturday night out with just my wife and I was great.

My children rarely acted out in public and if they did they were taken out of the public sphere immediately. They either behaved or we went home.

I was an early adopter of using media to lull my kids into cartoon comas on long car trips. We bought a 10" TV/VCR that plugged into the cig lighter: splitter for the headphones and let Disney be your babysitter. They later each got their own CD player for movies, then laptops.

It was the only time they had unlimited access. I-95 is no place to try and learn about the USA.

[Zeke]

I think the kids acting up in restaurants is actually a tad better these days. I say that because people are not as polite or tolerant as they may have once been. The whole cell phone thing likely aided the new push back.

I know I will get up and move my food to another table w/o asking if I'm bothered by another patron. Of course I frequently get up and walk over to the server's station and bring water back to my table if I need some and the servers aren't paying attention. I will do this too for a setup if I'm sat at a table short of utensils. There's just no point in sitting there the entire time the meal is being prepared only to have it served and then having to ask for a fork.

And then wait a full 2 freaking minutes while the server scratches their ass. And forgets the water..

...again.

[cantdrv55]

Some of those "misbehaving" kids may be on the autism spectrum. More often than not, the parents don't have any respite care so rather than staying shut in, they have to take their kids with them everywhere they go. My son has special needs but not autism. We are around families who are challenged with kids who have behavior issues. My heart goes out to them. You guys have no idea the sacrifices parents and siblings make. You should count your blessings.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by javadog

Don’t know, just a guess, probably where the most attractive women would be.

Women like well-dressed men...

I cannot remember the last time I was out to eat and a baby or small child was an annoyance.

We do not go out to eat much, we are very picky about the quality of the food we eat, therefore we cook and eat at home a lot. When we do eat out it is mostly when traveling.

Being in Florida and in a beach community, the dress code is more relaxed. Especially the outdoor type of places.

When visiting in Tulsa for a wedding in January I wore a jacket each nite when out to eat.

Same with NYC same with Ireland we changed for dinner each night.

You try to mimic the culture you are around, in Florida especially in the small beach towns and places like KW, it is much more laid back and relaxed.

It is nice to get dressed up nice and go out, it is also nice to be able to hit up a cool outdoor tiki bar on your way home from the beach in board shorts and flip flops.

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I must be blessed or eat in restaurants where kids aren't allowed. Go out to eat a lot, I can't remember seeing a kid in a restaurant. Mostly finer places and eclectic.

Last time I had a bad experience due to patronage was due to ugly Americans in Paris. They were worse than any kid could possibly be.

It must be really hard for you to live among all these abhorrent Americans.

Were these the offending people in Paris? Talking loud and getting their picture taken?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

You guys have no idea the sacrifices parents and siblings make.

Horse ****.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

This. Good lord I'm tired of people.

Me too; but just remember everyone is a people.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

Some of those "misbehaving" kids may be on the autism spectrum. More often than not, the parents don't have any respite care so rather than staying shut in, they have to take their kids with them everywhere they go. My son has special needs but not autism. We are around families who are challenged with kids who have behavior issues. My heart goes out to them. You guys have no idea the sacrifices parents and siblings make. You should count your blessings.

A couple of years ago we drove up to Cape Canaveral to see a Space X launch. We stopped off at what would turn out to be a great little local BBQ joint.

Over in the corner was a father and son eating dinner, not bothering anyone at all, I just noticed them due to them being in my field of vision and also how engaged they were. The son had a book with him and was really into reading it. The son also had downs syndrome. I try to do this from time to time and I am hesitating to even type this because this is the internet and a holes will think I am typing it for praise and that is not my intention.

More the opposite, I just want you to know there are people in this world that are good and notice little things and try to be nice.

His waitress was my waitress, I asked her to bring me his tab since we were finishing up before him and I wanted to do something nice for him.

I wrote a note to him in the receipt telling him it made my evening to see how much love he and his son had for one another and it was my pleasure to treat them to dinner, including tip.

I instructed the waitress to not tell him until we were gone.

In the bustle of doing this I never signed off on my credit card receipt and took it with me by accident.

The moment I got home (about an hour drive) I called and asked for her, told her my mistake and apologized and authorized her to put in for XX tip and run close the transaction.

She remembered who I was and told me that she had to tell me the father was stunned and had tears in his eyes over what I did. Then the manager got on the phone and told me the same thing and that it made his staffs night.

One little act of kindness goes a long way.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

You try to mimic the culture you are around, in Florida especially in the small beach towns and places like KW, it is much more laid back and relaxed.

It is nice to get dressed up nice and go out, it is also nice to be able to hit up a cool outdoor tiki bar on your way home from the beach in board shorts and flip flops.

Yeah, you’re not the type of guy that I’m talking about. You get it, you’re like me. I’m talking about people that literally don’t care whether they annoy others, whether it’s dressing like a slob when eating at a nice restaurant or letting their kids raise hell.

[Tobra]

When I was a lad, my parents would get a sitter, leave three at home and take us out to eat one at a time to teach us how to act.

Mom took us to the movies one time and we were acting up. She told us to chill, we failed to, she told us she would never take us to the movies again and we went home. It was after I got out of college before we went to a movie together again.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Gogar

Me too; but just remember everyone is a people.

Luckily, or maybe by choice, I am surrounded 90% of the time by the 10% I like and only 10% of the time by the 90% I don't in my own little meritocracy.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Mom took us to the movies one time and we were acting up. She told us to chill, we failed to, she told us she would never take us to the movies again and we went home. It was after I got out of college before we went to a movie together again.

We had the same Mom...mine was Spanish.

Spanish mothers are, in the mean, very in tune with their children, especially if they are misbehaving. Love comes later.

We went home as well...the "but, but, but..." pleas as we got in the car falling on deaf ears, the entire way home as well...silence: The loudest sound from a Mom.

Listen, I have over many years helped parents with difficult children, especially on airplanes. I am good at it. I get it, especially special needs because my family is blessed with two.

The first thing I look at when I am faced with a difficult child is the parents. The rest falls out from there.

[PorscheGAL]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

Some of those "misbehaving" kids may be on the autism spectrum. More often than not, the parents don't have any respite care so rather than staying shut in, they have to take their kids with them everywhere they go. My son has special needs but not autism. We are around families who are challenged with kids who have behavior issues. My heart goes out to them. You guys have no idea the sacrifices parents and siblings make. You should count your blessings.

There is a usually a big difference in the parent's response to misbehaving children and children with disabilities. A parent's behavior is more telling than the children, IMO.

[Racerbvd]

[RSBob]

Worse than restaurants are the movies, plays, musicals where you pay big money for an evening out. Some parents don’t have a clue and should be invited to take the child outside, if they refuse then the family needs to be escorted out and their tickets pulled.

[aschen]

I couldn't care less how other people are dressed in nearly every instance

Even good kids have their moments so i try to be a bit understanding as well. We have 3 small kids and only go to casual restaurants. They arnt perfect but are well behaved most of the time, we arnt perfect parents either but we try our best.

I refuse to overuse media devices as well. Id rather raise ovnoxious children than zombies.

[GH85Carrera]

[QUOTE=cantdrv55;10440702 You guys have no idea the sacrifices parents and siblings make. You should count your blessings.[/QUOTE]

That might be true, BUT no one forced you to become a parent. Parents sepend a lot of time and money to raise a kid. There is a oversupply of lousy parents, mostly dad's that are nothing more than baby daddies and do not deserve the title of father.

Good on you for for sticking it out through the hard times of parenthood. It was your choice to be a parent.

One of my deep thinker friends says all the time "You are in the position is life that you chose for yourself." A lifetime of choices has led you to the point in life you are living starting in your early childhood. That applies to all of us.

[Racerbvd]

Sadly, they are parents now. Making excuses for bad behavior is not parenting, it is failure. Like other here, I wasn't aloud to act up, as there were real fear of punishment.

[Jolly Amaranto]

When my kids were young, my wife and I would occasionally hire a sitter and go out to a real expensive quiet restaurant. Once a large party had two children amongst them who were having tantrums and screaming. The adults basically ignored them. The rest of the people in the restaurant were noticeably disturbed and many seemed to be complaining to the wait staff. It was not long before the entire wait staff descended on the table, grabbed all the food plates and boxed everything to go. The party was ushered out carrying their meals. After they were gone, everyone cheered but not to loudly and went to enjoying their meals. I don't believe the party even paid.

[rcooled]

Originally Posted by javadog

I’m talking about people that literally don’t care whether they annoy others, whether it’s dressing like a slob when eating at a nice restaurant or letting their kids raise hell.

Tony Soprano didn't like it either...

[mepstein]

We were lucky. We could take our kids to any restaurant from the time they were months old and they were perfect. People used to ask us how we did it. I have no idea, they just were made that way and we lucked out.

Both my parents grew up in households where their parents made them eat food they didn't like. They hated dinner time. My parents never made us eat anything. Just suggested. Dinner was always a pleasure. We do the same with our kids. Dinner time has always been great and the kids grew up healthy. I never understand the fight to make kids eat food they don't like.