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It's more than rude for the kid to destroy consumables, it's EXPENSIVE. Sugar and ketchup and salt and all of that costs MONEY.
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My DH is an exec. Chef, my major in college is hospitality management. Your food costs are more likely to be driven up by high gas prices than wasted sugar packets. These are figured into what is known as the “waste factor”. Meat, cheese, and produce prices waver therefore you food will change prices due to this – not due to sugar packets.
I don’t think children are less behaved than they used to be, it’s that parents take their kids out in public more now. When my mom was little, she NEVER went out to eat at a restaurant or even was taken to the grocery store! Society HAS changed…we have face paced lives, working parents, activities to be at, picking the kids up at 5 – we take our children out as a reward, not a punishment.
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If my 5 year old leaves the table without my permission, you had better believe I'm going to call him on the carpet and tell him to get his fanny in that chair. It is rude of him to get up without asking.
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Sorry, but I think it is entirely more disturbing in a restaurant for a mother to be shouting at her child to come back to the table. My child behaves, but not all the time. I don’t let her rip up sugar packets, but I pick my battles. If she wants to play with them, and a saltshaker – fine. It’s my responsibility to clean it up or pay the waitress/busser a higher tip to do so.
There is a time and place to take your children with you, but places that accommodate children (highchairs, coloring menus, etc) should expect minor clean up or erratic behavior to occur. Putting a child in an adult medium and EXPECTING them to act like adults is too high of an expectation. Labeling people as breeders who think the world revolves around them and their children is absolutely ridiculous.
I absolutely expect a children’s section of a bookstore with toys available to be a place my child can play, which includes making noise. I don’t expect “The French Laundry” to even come close to allowing my DD in the vicinity of the restaurant. Its common sense…
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I'm not trying to be nasty by choosing this post to comment on, but some of it is exactly the kind of thing that is being talked about in the artical that people are disturbed by.
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I simply chose to pick my battles with my DD. I think it is nasty what you are saying, simply because I don't train my child to be complacent doesn't mean I'm a bad parent. My child behaves, but I don't think yelling at her in a restaurant over playing with a few sugar packets is nessicary. We simply have different parenting styles. We also have different kids.
I don't like my child run unruly, but I allow her a safe environment (including in public) to explore things freely. I focus on what my child wants and needs rather than what I want and need. So, I'm frusterated when my DD is throwing a tantrum in target - but I can get mad at her and have us both be upset, or remove her from the situation and try another day. My child isn't going to be unruly at age 20 because at 18 months I let her shake around a few sugar packets (by the way, I don't let her rip them open - it was just an example that had been brought up in another post).
I don't think what you all are saying is awful, I just don't think that some establishments should start banning all children because sometimes they are unruly - especially ones that cater to families. It has nothing to do with my parenting style or yours. How do you "socialize" a child without taking them in public?
...kids running, yes running, through the restaurant in small herds and actually taking food of another guests table...not their own. One child pulled my hair as I was taking his order...another group came to the bar while I was bartending and stuck their grubby hands into the cocktail garnishes (olives, cherries, orange wedges, and the like) at the service bar and proceeded to help themselves as if it was a buffet. I have seen a child maybe 11 or 12 years old purposefully reach out and tip over a full tray of food for the table next to him...just to see what would happen. Children have wandered away from their table into the back line...this could be VERY dangerous to a small child. I could go on and on for pages.
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