We have some parents on here, yes?
Tell me something: do you think it's bad form for parents to let their kids run around a restaurant while they are on the phone doing Facebook or Twitter or Snap Shit or Insta-whatever or selfiestick crap? Is it bad form for the parents when patrons like myself have to dodge and weave in order to not step on the kids that are dancing or jumping or flailing their stupid arms? Is it bad form for the parents when one of their kids nearly hits a certain someone in the crotch? Is it bad form for the parents when a certain patron has to trip a kid in order to make it back to his seat unscathed?
I'm not sure where to direct my hatred: children or their parents. It's clear that it's the parent's fault for having their little Tasmanian devils run amok while others are trying to eat their food, but for some reason children seem more awful with each passing day. When I was a kid, if I wasn't sitting in my seat and minding my manners at home OR at a restaurant, I would have gotten one of the following:
1. Slapped in the face by my mother
2. Slapped in the face by my father
3. Slapped on the butt by a wooden spoon by either parent - ever get hit by one of those? They don't tickle.
4. Grounded
And if someone was really -REALLY- acting up, we would have gotten a combination of them. Similarly, my partner would have gotten a belt, a switch -AND- a few smacks in the face if he acted up.
I'm sure that the folks on here are wonderful parents. I know for a fact that turf should be winning Father of the Year just based on what I know of him. Still, I came *THIS* close to igniting more than a few minivans last night.
End rant.
If it's your average, non-kiddie restaurant, then absolutely they should have been disciplined, and if they still want to act like shits, then you take them out of the restaurant.
If they're in a place like McDonald's with the play-place or a Chuck E. Cheese or something like that, then that kind of behavior is kind of expected from kids.
Me and my wife had a sort of similar situation with our daughter. She's not quite 1 year old yet. So she's at the stage where she can't talk but she's experimenting with her voice. Sometimes she'll let out a screech. Well my wife was having breakfast with her grandpa at a Denny's like place. And my daughter did the screech thing. Now, her grandpa is a regular there, and it's like a normal thing for the old men to have breakfast there. There were some other old men a couple tables over, and they are just complaining out loud about how my wife should be able to control her kid. A kid that has no idea how to communicate or understand yet because she's not a year old. My wife left, but she was damn upset about the whole situation.
^ What do you guys think in that instance? Should the kid be taken out, or should people understand that you can't discipline a kid under 1 year and it's part of natural growing and experimenting with her body?