Child-Free by Choice

My boyfriend, my mom and I went to a nice buffet place the other night.

Well, it WAS nice, until we noticed the three kids, six years and younger who were running around their multiple parents' dinner table at a radius which cut into other diners' space, including our table.

There were six adults at the table who were oblivious and quite frankly did not care about their children's behavior or how it affected others, who were behaving properly - I mean seriously, if you or I went running around a restaurant, screaming on the top of our lungs, we would get the boot in less than 15 seconds!

After a half-hour of shenanigans and buffet hell, the party finally got up to leave, and we all applauded! Maybe that was ignorant, but what's more ignorant: that, or leaving your kids free to run rampant in a public place with no supervision?

My mother says I'm selfish because I don't have children, but those people who want kids, and are not prepared to become selfless to ensure their proper upbringing and care are the most selfish.

I just wish that adults would start acting like adults and supervise their children, or if they can't or won't, at least keep their kids at home, so they can drive no one in public crazy, yet are free to raise hell within their own four walls.

There, I feel better now!

I worked in a buffet joint for a while.. If the kids were bothering you, they were bothering any servers and other staff around too. It's just that the staff can't say anything or the parents will (they always do) report them to management.

I loved our manager. He'd kick people out for having rowdy children. Box up whatever they had on their plates and kick them out. He was of the opinion that if your kid couldn't sit at the table then they weren't old enough to be in his resturaunt. You wouldn't believe some of the things he was called by parents who thought the resturaunt staff should baby sit their children.

I understand that it's nice to get out once in a while.. What I don't understand is not teaching your kids to behave in public or doing something more age appropriate for the child. That doesn't mean limiting your nights out to places like McDonalds.. But what's wrong with picking up a pizza and taking the kids to the park for lunch? You get out of the house and out of cooking, they get to run around like ninnies. Seems like the best of both worlds to me.

Turdle

Welcome, Gobfuse.

I've encountered my share of children running through restaurants. It definitely is frustrating when neither parents nor staff say anything. I don't think I'd have the nerve to clap when a disruptive party left. Hope you enjoyed your dinner otherwise.

This is one of my top pet peeves.  I cannot stand going out in public and having to put up with other people's kids.  I was at JCPenney over the weekend and was in the curtain department, where there were three kids running around chasing each other, zigging in and out of aisles, and screaming while their idiotic oblivious parents stood by and discussed curtain options with each other!  I was soooooo close to approaching the kids within ear shot of the parents and asking them where their parents were, but didn't.

I also cannot stand when management won't step in and do something about the issue.  DH and I have not returned to a restaurant that we last went to well over a year ago because of something very similar.  I posted here on the board shortly thereafter about how the kids were not anywhere by their parents, they were climbing on chairs and jumping off of tables and management did nothing.  I don't know when this became acceptable behavior in our society.  It certainly wasn't acceptable when I was growing up!

I'm glad you appluaded.  Did everyone in the restaurant, or just your party?  What did the parents do, or were they really that clueless?

It drives me crazy too when parents think that kids can run around like wild in a store or restaurant. The other day, I was getting in my car outside of Panera and a kid in another car stuck his tongue out at me. I stuck my tongue out at him too and the kid had a great look of shock. He couldn't believe that an adult would do that. Maybe he will think twice the next time, he might get a weird face back at him.

Mary