Babies in Restuarants

[rjundi]

I just returned from a nice family trip from Italy for two weeks with my wife and 10 month old daugther. My daughther is an excellent traveller but defintely an anchor.

First I have to say the Italian's really know how to cook.

In US restuarants non-chain non-family oriented places(wife/I avoid them) people give us such wincing looks when we go out. I am talking between fine dining and run of the mill. My daughter makes some noise but nothing extraoridinary over a loud patron.

In Italy we ate at relatively upscale places known mainly for excellent food. Our daughther was cherished by wait staff and other resturant patrons. At times wait staff would show our daughter (who loved attention) to every table in resturant. We typically were only non-Italiens.

What are your feelings on young ones in resturants?

 

[XS650]

No problem as long as they are well behaved and quiet and their parents will remove them immediately if they stop being well behaved and quiet. Unfortunately, the Average American parent raises children that are neither well behaved or quiet in restaurants.

 

[Al]

What XS said. Not much of an issue for us. Being retired- We go to HOSS's Restaurant (for those of you in the Pa. area) about twice a week for lunch. Usually no kids at lunch. And when we dine out in the evening we'll go to a restaurant where the baby breeders usually don't frequent. And usually the upper tier places where a couple will bring children-their kids are almost always well behaved. Its the McDonalds crowd where kids are really ill-manered.

 

[Gurkha]

Having lived in India, US and also visited Europe and other parts of Asia extensively, I will declare the most indisciplined children are from India and US, Indian mothers produces a child for other to take care, specially when travelling and in public places, its truly disgusting, case in point, when I board a plane from India, its a veritable nightmare, you shudder when you see a child approaching you, the mother not even bothering to look or say anything. US kids are noisy and rowdy but the parents at least make a feeble effort to control them, German and Japanese kids are the best followed by others.

 

[Gary Allan]

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No problem as long as they are well behaved and quiet and their parents will remove them immediately if they stop being well behaved and quiet. Unfortunately, the Average American parent raises children that are neither well behaved or quiet in restaurants.

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It used to bother me more. I was raised to be orderly and quiet in public. When I see parents just ignoring obvious loud and abrasive noise/behavior it made me wonder why they didn't find anything wrong with it. I tried to make my children as innocuous as possible in public where it would impact others enjoyment of the setting. It's the same as a bunch of people in a quiet park being forced to have a boom box and whatnot imposed upon them.

OTOH, as a grandparent I've gotten a softer view of children's expressions.

I'd say that the greatest distinction between "annoying" and "just fine" is how much the parent(s) in question are interacting with the child. If I see some numb cellphone implanted bimbo that acts like nothing is going on and the child is just left to scream its head off with her/them sitting in apparent ignorant bliss ..that irritates me. OTOH, if it's two loving parents that are interacting with their child as an integrated family ...then it's something kinda fun to watch ..and even participate if the oportunity arrises.

You can tell people that are truly into their children. You can also tell those who considered children some perfunctory of life ..much like a license or diploma.

 

[XS650]

There is also a definite correlation between the "quality" of the noise and the level of obnoxiousness. A child getting a bit exuberant and making more noise than a refined, sophisticated adult diner such as yourself is much less annoying to me than a whining brat operating at the same decibel level.

 

[Al]

To sum it up..most people should not have kids.

 

[Auto-Union]

I go to a Chinatown restaurant that is authentic, right up to the clientelle. Very late at night, 1-2am whole Asian families are in there having a big meal. The kids are PERFECTLY behaved. That observation is coming from me, someone without a high tolerance for shreaking kids. My wife's solution for inattentive parents with raucous childeren, she'll just start speaking loudly, and cursing like a sailor.

 

[obbop]

Some species eat their young.

Good species.

 

[andyd]

Babies and toddlers are fine, cell phone users are the ones who raise my ire.

 

[XS650]

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Some species eat their young.

Good species.

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I like children - fried.
W. C. Fields

 

[Pablo]

No whining.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I don't mind children, so long as I don't have to be around them.

 

[Slick 55]

Some of you guys need prayer............I wouldn't trade my daughter for ANYTHING.

 

[moribundman]

I have no problem with people bringing their reasonably behaved offspring into restaurants. Screamers and runners are obviously not especially welcome.

However, it really drives me nuts when people bring their babies or toddlers to the movie theater. That's just inconsiderate towards the poor child (risk of psychosis due to experiencing 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' at age 3) and anyone else.

 

[SWS]

Before we had kids my wife and I had rather harsh opinions about parents who did not keep their kids quiet in public - I'm referring to screaming, not jabber. Then we had kids! Our first child was rather demanding and could be a real "attention seeker". We learned to cope with this the best we could! One of us frequently missed our meal, movie, etc so that peace could be maintained in the public space. Two years later our second child arrived and was completly happy anywhere and even entertained herself, seemingly from birth! My point is that even those parents who are sensitive to the "public disruption" issue, and really try to keep their kids quiet out of respect for others sometimes have a child that is problematic in the noise department. Further, our own experience is that we became desensitized to the noise, and did not realize the magnitude of the disruption! Finally, I urge that you try to have patience and understanding with these parents. Many times they are simply trying to have a nice meal and adult conversation - basically trying to get out of the house - and it is stressful for them to have these disruptions, and a learning process for them as well. Some of these parents are nearly overwhelmed, dealing with the screaming every day, so trying to maintain sanity is a challenge. Now that my kids are 19 and 17, I still look-back on those public disruptions with embarrasment, but to this day when I hear a screaming baby and see the nervous parent I understand what they are dealing with and have a lot of sympathy for the situation.

 

[Al]

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I wouldn't trade my daughter for ANYTHING.

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That's how I felt until she became a teenager.

I'm not alone.

 

[Pablo]

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That's how I felt until she became a teenager.

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0.27$ and used baseball mitt ought to do it.

 

[XS650]

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I wouldn't trade my daughter for ANYTHING.

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That's how I felt until she became a teenager.

I'm not alone.

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Adolescence is nature's way of making it easy for parents to let go.

 

[Auto-Union]

Two words, Hot Pockets.