You probably haven't been worrying much lately about the seating policies of McDain's restaurant in Monroeville, Pa. You probably don't even know that McDain's exists. Or Monroeville, for that matter. But when the casual-dining eatery announced earlier this month that kids under 6 wouldn't be served, every media outlet in the U.S. spread the news, including this one. It's not that anybody cares about McDain's or its stuffed flounder ($18.95) or beer-battered chicken ($12.95). It's that the question of whether small children should be allowed in restaurants cuts through one of the biggest unspoken divides in American life: the one between parents and nonparents.
I am in the latter category. When I'm in a restaurant, and the piercing wail of an infant first registers on my brain stem, I tend to wince. My lips form an involuntary rictus; I lose all concentration and exist in a state of total sensory deprivation, like the guy in Johnny Got His Gun. For parents, the situation is totally different. Their life is one of constant labor and drudgery, of attenuated nerves that Go the F**k to Sleep speaks so eloquently of and to. Parents want to go to restaurants like everybody else. After all, restaurants are public places. And many parents insist the misbehaving-kid issue is overblown. Rebekah Denn, a James Beard Award–winning restaurant critic in Seattle and mother of three, told me, "In my hundreds of meals out around Seattle, I hardly ever saw kids screaming, kicking, running around unsupervised, or any of the other dinner-ruining crimes that the chat-board complainers seem to think are legion."
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I do understand the dilemma. We raised two daughters and very seldom was there a meltdown when in a restaurant-they knew it would not be tolerated. We have two adorable grandsons, one preschooler and a toddler; they too are good when out to eat. There is a meltdown if the service is slow, or a long wait to be seated. All children are going to melt down, but parents should be in control and the potty mouth does not accomplish anything in restoring order.
ReplyDelete3:14
ReplyDeleteJust because you have taught you children manners and appearantly they are respectful and well behaved doesn't mean other parants with there children are the same.
I have been in a restaurant where there will be small children screaming, toddlers climbing over the booth back staring at me, and in one case a 4 or 5 year old that walked up to our table and grabbed a biscuit right off my plate.
In each of the above cases, the parents were inept and uncaring.
"Oh, I'm sorry my little precious is too little to understand"
Well my answer to that it. Keep your liitle monster brat home!
No, this is the time children should be taught to eat out and how to have good manners. Most restaurants provide coloring books and crayons for kids to keep them occupied. Perhaps some restaurants could expand on that with small game books.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, getting out to eat with my wife WITHOUT the kids was a treat well appreciated and enjoyed. Manners were taught at home. When they were learned satisfactorily, the kids could come along. We didn't take the screamin' infants with us. We got a babysitter.
ReplyDeleteI think its a parent's job to use discretion when choosing a restaurant. I would never take my 18mo to an upscale restaurant because its just not a place for kids. When we do go out to eat I make sure she has good manners, and I always pick up whatever food she accidentally drops on the floor.
ReplyDeleteBan em all
ReplyDelete4:32 OK, your banned.
ReplyDeletei love kids but dont want any crazy/uncontrolled little brat ruining my night out with my wife.if you cant keep your kids in control dont bring them out.take them to mc donalds
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