Am I the only one reading the articles about restaurants, movie theaters and airlines considering banning children from their establishments? I’m sad to say the first restaurant to start the bandwagon hails from my new hometown of Pittsburgh. I guess I won’t be taking my business there.
Or maybe I will…
I can’t decide how I feel. I understand people don’t like listening to babies crying and children throwing temper tantrums. Guess what? Neither do the parents! The truth is children are little people with big emotions, and are still being trained how to deal with them.
There are some adults who still don’t know how to deal properly with their emotions. Just sayin’.
I totally agree with destination vacations, resorts, etc having age barriers. What rubs me wrong is people feel justified in banning someone based on their age from entering a main-stream establishment (grocery store, restaurant), or flying only at certain times (wow, bummer if you’re headed to a funeral). Would they do this to someone because of the color of their skin?
I know… it seems dramatic to make this a civil rights issue. But when I read the first article I thought “Unborn babies have no rights so I guess children under six are the next to be pushed aside.” I know that’s offensive to some, but that’s where my mind went. Just being honest.
How do you feel about this new fad?
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Comments (11)
Haven’t heard much of this yet. I will certainly be looking into it. And in full agreement – I, a parent, do NOT want to listen to whiney, crabby children either. And we do our best to remove them from the public situation if they are behaving like this. And I will add my son has been on a few plane rides and he behaves better than most of the adults. Happy Thursday!
I agree and I don’t agree. I have 5 children and NEVER once did my kids run crazy in the resturant, movies. I have tought my kids that others PAY their money just like we do to sit and eat or watch a show. Its not fair to them that we create such a disturbance that we impinge on their enjoyment.
I know kids are kids and we need to let them be kids, but there is a time a place for for running and screaming and running amuck.
I do have to say I am not one of those parents who give the “Stink eye” to the parents of running crazy children, I am to busy praying for peace LOL!
As a reader without children, I understand that kids will be loud at times, as they test the waters, or try to determine what is acceptible. And if I see a parent trying to teach the child, to ‘use an inside voice’, ‘respect others’ etc…then I am tolerant. I think I get upset in restaurants and other places, when the parents are completely zoned out to their kids behavior, and really don’t care…I feel bad for the children because they are literally screaming for attention! Hello parents – wake up…your kids need guidance.
I do agree with the comments that many adults don’t understand how to behave either…I see this quite often in my part-time retail job…so sad.
My initial thoughts…..I don’t really “like” hearing crying and whining, but if I have the love of God in my heart, I can feel compassion and caring for those who are suffering: the kids who are miserable and the parents who are trying. Love covers all things.
I think it is wrong to ban kids. However, if someone’s child is truly out of control for an extended amount of time, they should be allowed to ask them to leave.
I think a lot of people don’t teach their kids manners and how to behave. I mean, there ARE some bratty out of control kids out there and it is a direct result of bad parenting. That being said, some of the best behaved and well mannered kids could have a meltdown every now and then- and a responsible, polite parent would swoop their child up and take them out of the establishment so they don’t bother anyone, deal with the situation and come back in. It drives me nuts when kids are bratty and out of control, however, I have a niece with special needs who does have outbursts. It has taught me not to be judgmental off the bat, as you can’t always tell on the outside if the child has special needs of if something else could be contributing.
As a reader without children, I really don’t want to hear whinney kid in restaurants, movies or on planes….but then I also don’t like hearing whinney adults, drunk adults, or being near an adult with strong perfume, cologne, a cough, fever etc and I encounter that WAY more often than the whinney kids. Kids will be Kids! Most parents do the best they can in stressfull situations and I appreciate that. I did sit next to two adorable kids on a plane once – and one of them threw up on me. Mom and Dad and younger sibling was in the seats ahead of us. Fun Times!
Is it just kids under 6? Haha! I should take Polly! She’s 11, but I’m willing to bet she could out-tantrum any infant!
what? that’s crazy!!!! I haven’t heard about it at all
Ooh, great topic! Thanks for posting that article. We have flown to California (from the East Coast) and to Europe with our (now) one-year-old, who behaved so well that multiple people both times commented afterward how wonderful he had been. I think banning children from flights is a little extreme, especially, as you pointed out, because of things like funerals and other emergencies that require flying.
But on the other hand, like Lisa, I “agree and I don’t agree” – I cannot STAND whiny, bratty children who misbehave in public and whose parents are SO oblivious and/or just don’t care and/or are rude people themselves that they exert no parental authority whatsoever.
I agree that in theory kids should be allowed everywhere, on the assumption that parents will whisk them away when they are acting up, but the reality is that many parents tolerate such behavior beyond believe. I actually feel like I have seen the latter FAR more frequently in the last few years.
My husband and I were in a restaurant with our baby who was 4 months old at the time, and a mother was sitting at a table near us with her twin boys, about age 2 or 3, both of whom were acting bratty and whiny and loud the entire time we ate lunch.
At one point, one of them threw a knife at our table, and I got the woman’s attention (which itself took some doing) and told her that her son had thrown a knife at us.
Did she apologize on his behalf or, God forbid, scold her child and/or make him apologize? Nope…she TURNED BACK AROUND AS IF SHE HAD NOT EVEN HEARD ME SPEAK TO HER. Wha whAAAAA????? That made me more furious than the child being bratty in the first place.
So…while I do want to be able to take my son everywhere I go – generally, excepting the adults-out-for-real-conversation times! – I do seriously understand the many, many people who are without children, wanting to go places sometimes (other than bars late at night) where they can be assured that they will be surrounded by adults or older children only.
This is not a new thing, it is just becoming more popular. Just today I booked the ONLY bed and breakfast that allows small children I could find for our next destination.
Money talks. If more parents were spending big bucks everywhere AND if they weren’t collectively allowing their children to scream like banshees in public and act like wild animals who have never heard the word “no,” then maybe more establishments would be loath to listen to complaints, which would surely be fewer in number if such were the case.
I was in a restaurant with a single and childless friend and a child at the next table banged her knife on the drinking glass so much that my friend felt compelled to ask the parents to make her stop. The parents were very rude to my friend, making a bad situation worse. If they could have shown some respect for others in the restaurant, it wouldn’t have happened. I have 3 children who know how to behave in public situations because we helped train them how to respect others.
Our children’s “rights” can be taken away by our failure to train them properly. I told them to behave in a way that would make their hosts want to invite them again.
Beverly – Ohio
Oh this is a subject with me – that is like “don’t get me started” – My “kids” are now 31 and 25 years old. I was present with and for my children and taught them to behave and respect people, animals and things. No offense to young mothers out there – BUT…. it seems like today it’s easier to do nothing than to correct behavior. I taught my children not only with a gentle and firm “No or a warning” but an explanation was also added. I taught them to respect our home, I didn’t put everything away – and didn’t have to worry if we went to visit relatives or traveling – things weren’t touched and broken, furniture wasn’t jumped on. As an example – we were clothes shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue for my son then 9 years old, our daughter was 3, she was being louder than was acceptable indoors and my husband gave her two warnings to stop or they will go to the car – she tested him and out to the car they went. The sales clerk said to me – How I wish more parents were like you. After being put into her car seat with an explanation and short time out, they returned to the store. How many times in a restaurant I hear “if you do that one more time” from a parent and the 10th time later, the behavior is still continuing. Or my husband and I were in a restaurant seated a booth eating lunch, in the booth behind my husband was a boy about 4 with a match box car – running the car on the top of the booth then proceeded to put the car on my husband’s head and hit him with the car, doing this four or five time making racing sounds – the mother or father said not one word and when my husband finally turned around to ask if we could eat in peace – THEY were offended.
I just wish parents today would do more parenting of their children.