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I don't care how you discipline your child. But if you can't handle them in a restaurant, don't bring them.
THIS!!!!! I had two occasions that my son was the hellion. As soon as I knew I'd get no where with him, I picked him up, took him outside, put him in his carseat while DH got the rest of our food to go and paid the bill. by the time we got home he knew good and well what he did wrong and it was unacceptable.
There was no reason other diners should have to put up with his disruptive behavior.
My mother had 4 children...we only misbehaved once in a restaurant.
If one behaved badly they everyone was packed up and left.
If you have to leave in the middle of a few dinners....suck it up cupcake, teaching your child acceptable behavior in public is part of being a parent.
Do you really think these parents don't try to be "consistent in reinforcing what is and isn't allowed." Do you really think that notion never crossed their mind or that they aren't already trying to instill this? Children are individuals and have their own personalities and unfortunately some are very head strong regardless of what parents do. Instead of judging those parents or trying to reward or punish parents, how about we just relax and accept that some very good parents have some "high energy kids" that are going to behave poorly in a restaraunt at times. And in my experience, some people are very hypersensitive. Who cares if a kid stands up in their seating area or runs off when the mother calls to them. "Oh my dining experience is just ruined now because their kid stood up while they were eating"
I think parents should keep their "high energy" kids at home until they teach them to behave in restaurants and not disrupt the atmosphere for other diners.
Do you really think these parents don't try to be "consistent in reinforcing what is and isn't allowed."
They may try, but if they succeeded they would not have issues. I remember when my oldest was small. We got to the restaurant where he was to get his wonderful mac n cheese. He was disturbing other guests. I told him that he could not. He continued. We left. It cost me a couple of bucks. It saved me the ability to eat at any restaurant we want at any time. Money well spent.
Do you really think these parents don't try to be "consistent in reinforcing what is and isn't allowed." Do you really think that notion never crossed their mind or that they aren't already trying to instill this? Children are individuals and have their own personalities and unfortunately some are very head strong regardless of what parents do. Instead of judging those parents or trying to reward or punish parents, how about we just relax and accept that some very good parents have some "high energy kids" that are going to behave poorly in a restaraunt at times. And in my experience, some people are very hypersensitive. Who cares if a kid stands up in their seating area or runs off when the mother calls to them. "Oh my dining experience is just ruined now because their kid stood up while they were eating"
Likewise, when people see you spanking and yelling at your kids at the top of your lungs to keep them seated in a restaurant, no one thinks you are a good parent, they think you are an idiot who lacks patience and doesn't understand children very well. To judge another parent in that situation is hypocritical on your part. Everybody has been there. Everyone has had kids misbehave in a restaurant, it doesn't make them bad parents.
Not everyone LETS their children behave badly in the restaurant. I raised 4 as well. And sure they misbehaved, for the 5 minutes it too to wrangle them back out to the car.
This is not just for the consideration of the other people but for the sake of the kids as well. Unruly, obnoxious children frequently grow up to be obnoxious teens. The consequences range from just being dislikes to being avoided to losing opportunities. I see it everyday as a teacher. One of those obnoxious kids just got booted from an internship opportunity that their better behaved peers did not. Oh well, I hope your meal was was worth it.
I guess most of you missed the context of the article. There is at least one website dedicated to "fun" sales receipts. The article has a link to that website, along with a few examples of other "fun" receipts. In some restaurants, a server and/or manager can insert discounts that print short text message-like explanations of those discounts. There are default discounts (senior citizen, veteran, mother's day, call-in anniversary, discount member's birthday, etc) and there are blank discounts that get filled in by whoever is giving that discount to the customer.
The "good behavior" discount is NOT a standard discount. The server was obviously impressed by the behavior. In restaurants, there's good behavior, bad behavior, neutral behavior, and then the extremes - the "OMG this kid is so AMAZING I want three just like that!" behavior, and there's "OMG this kid is destroying our business someone call the cops!" behavior. The server clearly had the former as a customer and wanted to give the family a little present to thank them for the experience.
I think it's lovely, and I wish more restaurants would encourage this type of random-act-of-kindness behavior. Red Robin restaurants are famous for this - they just find a moment that touches their heart and touch back with a free meal, or discount, or dessert, and even more.
I'm just laughing at the idea that my 3-year-old should be able to sit down and color for 45 minutes uninterrupted. LOL (from upthread)
I have a neutral behavior child, I guess. We sometimes have to tell him to sit down and stop staring at people (I hate this!), to stop kicking his feet on the chair if we are in a booth, to stop dropping his crayons on the floor, etc. So he's not a perfect angel, but he is also not a runner or a screamer, which I think is more annoying. We do bring his LeapPad and our cellphones with kid apps, a couple of Hot Wheels cars and a snack. Since he just turned 3, I find most of his behavior age appropriate and no, I don't go running for the doors if he whines for 30 seconds. He always pulls it together. We've only had to leave a restaurant once when he was 1.
Last edited by carolinacool; 02-07-2013 at 08:43 AM..
I'm waiting for the discrimination lawsuit from parents of ADHD or autistic kids.
I'm not sure if you are serious or not, but I have a friend with a 6-year-old son who is autistic and my heart breaks when I hear her talk/write about the stares and comments she gets in public. I get the frustration of hearing kids scream and scream, but I do try to keep in mind I don't know what the issue is. I also don't think these children should need to sit at home their entire lives, either.
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