Children eating out

[dandysmom]

I must be old fashioned and Victorian also, because I agree with everything Jac and others said! It's terribly annoying to try to enjoy a meal with friends when parents are allowing their children to behave like wild animals! I wasn't brought up that way!

[dinahsmum]

Life's nicer for the children when they are well behaved/polite too. My son had one school year when his sister had already gone to senior school, so he had to take the (ordinary, town) bus to his school (as we had moved house, away from the junior school,which we used to walk to). He became the blond, blue-eyed darling of the bus. The only child on that journey, because of the house move. All the ladies on their way to work in town got to know him by name; he always stood if seats became short; talked to them, etc. When it was his 10th birthday they all wanted to know if he was lucky to receive the gifts he wanted, and he came home with several bags of Maltesers (his favourites!) etc

[Moli]

My children were brought up as I was to be well mannered and respectful..We could take them anywhere and know they would behave......Like others here I cannot stand going out for a meal, and having it spoilt because some parents will just not control their children....

[Jac]

The thing is at the end of the day it's the parents responsibility. Unfortunately it seems in this day and age table manners went out the window along with respect for elders ect.

[dandysmom]

I'm afraid you're right, Jac ......sad, isn't it?

[Kim]

Agree with you totally Jac.

My daughter works as a waitress in a pub/restaurant and she says it is amazing how some parents let their children run around and cause havoc. Spoils the enjoyment for others and several times she has nearly been knocked over by a child.

[yola]

I defense of children, we were in (child-friendly) Carluccios today, and all the kids there, including my own were very well behaved. Yes, you had some of the smaller ones screaming a bit, but try asking an under-12-month-old baby to sit at a table for an hour and see what happens!

I have to say that I've only witnessed one single horrendous episode with a child. It was in a veggie (ish)restaurant in Bath and the parents of this little boy were letting him take all his food off his plate and pile it on the table and on his chair. They allowed him to sprinkle salt all over the table and the floor. He run havoc in the place, would not be controlled and to be honest I found his parents were the objectionable ones as they were delighting in his behaviour totally oblivious to the hostility of the remaining diners. The child was just a mild annoyance.

I hate bad manners of any kind, but what really gets my back up is the obvious instilling and in some cases, encouraging of bad behaviour in children by their parents!

[dandysmom]

Too right, Yola! Children aren't born with an instinct for good manners and behavior, that child will be a little hellion when he's older, and it will be entirely the parents fault!