Can We See the Kid’s Menu?
Posted by Sheryl Kirby in editorials, in the papers, news and media on March 29, 2007 at 2:53 pm
The National Post is running a couple of pieces today on kids in restaurants. One is an op-ed piece by CityBites editor Dick Snyder, the other interviews a couple of folks (including TasteTO writer Paul Wernick, as well as yours truly) about our own experiences.
It looks as if they’ve cut down my “changing the poopy diaper on the restaurant table” story to one line, which is really a shame - it’s truly horrifying, and I still can’t eat Huevos Rancheros without thinking of that incident.
So what say you, TasteTO readers? Is it cool to take your kids to restaurants? What about if they’re screaming and running around and generally making a nuisance of themselves? And to the child-free - how do you react when you’re trying to have a nice meal and the folks at the table next to you are letting their kids run wild?
March 29th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
As kids in the ’70s and early ’80s my sister and I got to go to some pretty fancy restaurants and never caused any problems. It was well understood even at that young age that if we misbehaved then going to fancy restaurants would stop (we liked eating out) and if we seriously misbehaved we were in line for a good whack (that rarely happenned but the threat was there.) Our parents were consistent in punishing bad behaviour. This contrasted with family friends who were wildly inconsistent and as a result the kids were frequently causing problems.
As a childless adult now, I just want to strangle parents who have misbehaving children especially at restaurants where children shouldn’t, in most cases, be. If you want to go someplace fancy or even semi-fancy and your kids are incapble of behaving then don’t be a tight-wad, hire a damn babysitter! You’re going to be blowing some serious cash anyways on food that your kid(s) aren’t going to eat anyway so put that towards a babysitter instead.
March 29th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Kids have a special place in our live, we have four of them. We are also an authority on dining, we own a restaurant. What do I think about kids in restaurants, Glad you ask. I think kids should be allowed in restaurants, but they should also behave when they are there, but that means, Mom and Dad should keep them in tow. I get very upset about kids behaving badly, but it is even worse when the parents don’t take care of them. Shame on those parents. Truly, I think if it is a fine dining place, leave them at home PLEASE. There is always somebody else in the dining room that decided to spent money on a baby-sitter, and their meal could be easily spoiled by rotten kids. If kids behave it is still not appropriate for certain restaurants, if they do not have a kids menu, that should say it loud and clear. DO NOT BRING THEM! I am in the process of writing a book about dining with kids. Hope it will go over well!!!
March 29th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Barney - Absolutely agree! I recall having “the phear” put into me early on, although the only place we got to go as kids was either McDonald’s or maybe the lunch counter at Woolworth’s, Simpson’s or for a more fancy outing, the cafeteria at Eaton’s. Damn, I’m dating myself here, aren’t I? The first “fancy” restaurant I can remember going to with my folks was Ponderosa and even then, we were warned to be on our best behaviour.
Alexandra - agree with you as well. Every situation I’ve encountered where kids have been allowed to misbehave in restaurants is because of exactly that - they were ALLOWED to misbehave. The parents either sat by and watched it happen, or were too self-involved. I was at a brunch place recently where a toddler made it out the door and onto the front sidewalk because his parents and their dining companions were too busy comparing tattoos to keep an eye on him.