Screaming Kids in Restaurants...

I am with the group that at least the parent has to try ... I know sometimes it just can't be helped. It's when the parent doesn't really care that it's most annoying.

Anyway, in a few years, it's possible that technology could help with this problem? I am about to get a set of Active Noise cancelling headphones. When you talk to a waiter, you just touch your ear and it does the reverse, it takes in noise via the microphones from the outside so you can converse.

If your dinner partner also had a pair, and you talked wirelessly with each other via a direct wireless connection, hmmm, seems possible. Some of these are in-ear (basically like a hearing aid) and not too noticeable. Just a thought ;-)
 
Amethyst said:
With all the complaints about kid noise, I feel it is only fair to point out that a large Florida restaurant full of older women who've each had a few cocktails, can sound an awful lot like a day-care center crossed with a poultry house.

When the tipsy screeching reaches a certain pitch and volume, we get up and leave.
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I have to agree with you. Groups dining together with a loud party atmosphere can be at least as annoying as an unruly kid.

We'll soon be spending several days with folks we knew from college "back in the day." Most of these folks, who we love dearly and have known for several decades, like to let it all out when we're together. To me, it's embarrassing when other folks at a restaurant have to listen to alcohol fueled, high volume silliness while they try to enjoy their meals. But there isn't much I can do about it except for DW and I to keep our own tone down.

Sigh.......

Anyway, while we've had a few experiences with unruly children in attendance at non-family restaurants, I can't say it's something we run into a lot. We expect it if we're at Denny's, IHOP, a pizza joint, etc. In more typically adult surroundings, we just try to get through kids, dogs (yuuuck!) or raucous adults as best we can and get the heck out. Thankfully it's relatively rare for us.
 
When my kids were young and started to misbehave, one of us would take the kid outside. When it happened at a grocery store, I'd leave the cart whereever I was and take the kid back home. They learned that if they wanted to go anywhere, they needed to behave appropriately.

I am glad we didn't have to take a kid on a subway or in a plane. There's not much a parent can do in a confined space like that. On a subway in Vienna recently, a young boy was having a complete meltdown. I felt sorry for the parent trying to deal with the screaming kid. It was no picnic for those of us in that subway car either.
 
PawPrint53 said:
When my kids were young and started to misbehave, one of us would take the kid outside. When it happened at a grocery store, I'd leave the cart whereever I was and take the kid back home. They learned that if they wanted to go anywhere, they needed to behave appropriately.

I am glad we didn't have to take a kid on a subway or in a plane. There's not much a parent can do in a confined space like that. On a subway in Vienna recently, a young boy was having a complete meltdown. I felt sorry for the parent trying to deal with the screaming kid. It was no picnic for those of us in that subway car either.
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+1
 
Dreaming of Freedom said:
Oh yes, I hate it when parents think it is OK to change their child's diaper at the table in the restaurant. It is so disgusting! I have seen it twice in my life. If I could make myself vomit, I would have walked over to their table and vomited to let them know how I felt.
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I have seen this too. Now that we have cell phones I would take a picture of the diaper changing, the restaurant sign, and the manager as I speak with them. Maybe even a video. I would avoid images of the parents faces. No need to confront or speak with the offending parent. IF nothing is done then I would post on social media and/or report it to restaurant inspectors. This is a potential hazard to health the same as any other animal waste contamination.


Cheers!
 
Are any of y'all as bossy as me when it comes to the table you're given at the restaurant? Situational awareness helps. Yes I mortify DH with this but he's used to it:

I won't sit if it's next to a large noisy party, or a large table prepped for a big group. I don't want the table near the doorway, or the kitchen, or in the middle of the dance floor. And nope I don't want to be seated next to the couple with 3 rowdy kids. In a new place, I take the first table offered less than 50% of the time.

Of course, I can't control who sits next to me after I'm seated, but I usually ask for window, corner, booth, etc., as the odds I'm going to be surrounded by a circus are greatly reduced. If I reserve a table online, I use the options to request quiet/booth/corner, etc. Open Table is great for this and most restaurants pay attention to the requests.

That said, I'm not talking typical family restaurants or 6pm dinner times - you have to expect kids at those.
 
On a Serious note, I with the person who said they would leave the restaurant if there were screaming kids in it and make it well known to the management.

And yes I am picky where we sit too.
 
I was looking for the how many kids do you have thread and stumbled into this one by mistake :popcorn:.
 
I can’t hear if it’s too noisy so I can be picky. More than once PF Chang’s has tried to put us right next to the kitchen when they had plenty of empty tables.
 
That's not bossy; it's common sense, especially since you are willing to take the situation into consideration. We love booths/banquettes, and always ask for a booth if they have them.

When a waitress at a nice, and not crowded, restaurant seated us at a teeny table-for-two where we ended up kicking each other, I requested to be moved to a larger table with room for our long legs. She moved us; didn't bat an eye. Now..."bossy" would have been if the restaurant was almost full, and there was only one table-for-four left. In that event, I think we would have left and gone somewhere else.

Aerides said:
Are any of y'all as bossy as me when it comes to the table you're given at the restaurant?

Of course, I can't control who sits next to me after I'm seated, but I usually ask for window, corner, booth, etc., as the odds I'm going to be surrounded by a circus are greatly reduced. If I reserve a table online, I use the options to request quiet/booth/corner, etc. Open Table is great for this and most restaurants pay attention to the requests.

That said, I'm not talking typical family restaurants or 6pm dinner times - you have to expect kids at those.
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Thankfully I have never seen someone change a diaper on a table. Ugh!
 
My kids are now 14 & 12, but when they were little, I was very concerned about their behavior in restaurants. As babies, if they started crying, I immediately took them outside until they calmed down. From ages 1-5, we really didn't go anywhere to eat that wasn't kid-friendly, but even in those places, they were taught that they needed to stay seated and use their 'inside' voices.

It was always vexing & embarrassing when we went out with friends who didn't have those rules for their kids.
 
Totally depends on the childrens' personalities, but my family have had some success, with some kids, at instilling "pride in acting like a big boy/girl in public" as early as age 3 (well, more toward 4, but you get my drift).

"Look at those kids, how they are acting. You don't act like that because you are a Big Girl."

"We can take you and your brother to nice places, because you always act like Big Kids. Everyone always tells us what nice kids we have..."

I suppose some will say this could instill a false sense of superiority, but hey, whatever works.

P.S. It doesn't hurt to stop by and tell any parents, who are having a successful night out with little ones, how much you admire their beautiful and beautifully-behaved family. Just a quick compliment and then away you go...leaving beaming parents behind. Our efforts actually paid off! People noticed! Nobody here knows about the Tuesday Night Disaster! :LOL:

ProspectiveBum said:
My kids are now 14 & 12, but when they were little, I was very concerned about their behavior in restaurants. As babies, if they started crying, I immediately took them outside until they calmed down. From ages 1-5, we really didn't go anywhere to eat that wasn't kid-friendly, but even in those places, they were taught that they needed to stay seated and use their 'inside' voices.

It was always vexing & embarrassing when we went out with friends who didn't have those rules for their kids.
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Aerides said:
Are any of y'all as bossy as me when it comes to the table you're given at the restaurant?
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Not a problem! If we are to be seated next to a large, noisy party, I smile and ask if we could possibly sit over *there* (pointing out an empty table in a quiet corner). Usually that is all it takes, although sometimes it is not possible due to staffing. The important part (if you plan to ever eat there again) is to be extremely polite, pleasant, friendly, compliant, and understanding rather than taking a bossy attitude.
 
Aerides said:
I won't sit if it's next to a large noisy party, or a large table prepped for a big group. I don't want the table near the doorway, or the kitchen, or in the middle of the dance floor. And nope I don't want to be seated next to the couple with 3 rowdy kids. In a new place, I take the first table offered less than 50% of the time.
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Yep, that's DW. Doesn't bother me a bit.
 
W2R said:
The important part (if you plan to ever eat there again) is to be extremely polite, pleasant, friendly, compliant, and understanding rather than taking a bossy attitude.
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Yes of course, I'm not actually bossy about it, that would be counterproductive! I guess rather than bossy, I mean assertive. Most of the time the host is going to seat you in their least desirable spots if they think they can. Gotta fill em somehow.

If they know you're a regular, or you ask, they won't.
 
Aerides said:
Most of the time the host is going to seat you in their least desirable spots if they think they can. Gotta fill em somehow.
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I've never heard that before. Always thought they were just trying to even out the rotation among the available servers.
 
Amethyst said:
T
P.S. It doesn't hurt to stop by and tell any parents, who are having a successful night out with little ones, how much you admire their beautiful and beautifully-behaved family. Just a quick compliment and then away you go...leaving beaming parents behind.
Click to expand...


+1 I have done this a few times myself. It makes everyone day.



Cheers!
 
If I got the least desirable spot as default I wouldn't go anymore.
 
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