Ban kids from restaurants?

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by jniff101

All I am saying is that instead of completely stopping you at the door and saying "your not welcome here" a simple, "please come this way to our family section" is the better way to go.

Good point, though this somewhat assumes they have floor space and budget to properly create two distinct dining spaces.

The issue is more likely they are working with limited resources and find that 95% of their clientele is adults, and 5% is adults with mutant offsrping in tow (yes, I'm being a tad over the top).

Having a small touch of experience in the restaurant biz, adults who bring mutant offspring and are oblivious to their antics are also often high-maintenance, low-tipping, generally troublesome patrons. Perhaps it is in the businesses' best interest to simply encourage those customers not dine there? They likely realize that they may also lose some business from people like yourself or AW who likely have perfectly acceptable offspring, but it might amount to less than a rounding error, plus increased business from diners who are then more assured of a pleasant meal at the establishment.

[Pineedles]

mutant offspring

[Argie's Wife]

What I think is worse than misbehaved children at a restaurant, is a bunny wearing a pancake on its head... Just sayin'....

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

What I think is worse than misbehaved children at a restaurant, is a bunny wearing a pancake on its head... Just sayin'....

I agree. It's moral outrage, and surely a violation of animal cruelty laws. I say we form a committee to study the effects of inflicting breakfast foods on the noggins of rabbits. This would likely qualify for some of the various taxpayer funded government grants being doled out currently, and with an election year coming up no politician would want to deny such funds to a group committed to the protection of both rabbits AND pancakes.

Our first meeting will be this weekend at a local establishment with a decent wine list, I'm open to suggestions.

[Pineedles]

At last my question is answered! It was pancakes! Thanks AW.

[Happy Gourmand]

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

I agree. It's moral outrage, and surely a violation of animal cruelty laws. I say we form a committee to study the effects of inflicting breakfast foods on the noggins of rabbits. This would likely qualify for some of the various taxpayer funded government grants being doled out currently, and with an election yeat coming up no politician would want to deny such funds to a group committed to the protection of both rabbits AND pancakes.

Our first meeting will be this weekend at a local establishment with a decent wine list, I'm open to suggestions.

I'm in...can we make the meeting at a restaurant that doesn't allow any mutant offspring?

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Gourmand

I'm in...can we make the meeting at a restaurant that doesn't allow any mutant offspring?

That seems appropriate.

I hear there is a new place in Meredith that does not allow children and only accepts payments in bitcoins. The have 4 tables (but 3 of them are VEERY wobbly). Seems like a good place to try.

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/restaurant_popular

[Argie's Wife]

Derailing this even further...

Nevermind the good wine... who has good - I mean, GREAT beer?

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

Derailing this even further...

Nevermind the good wine... who has good - I mean, GREAT beer?

Wish I could answer that, because based on your other post about Black Cat, I think we enjoy similar beers.

Wining Butcher tends to have a good selection, but of course that's just a cash n' carry kind of thing. Not sure who serves such a selection in the immediate area.

[NBR]

My youngest is over 40 but if I see a no children sign or know a resturant is a no child place I go somewhere else. I repeat unruly children are the result of poor parenting.

[TOAD]

Originally Posted by NBR

My youngest is over 40 but if I see a no children sign or know a resturant is a no child place I go somewhere else. I repeat unruly children are the result of poor parenting.

I agree 100%.

[Jonas Pilot]

My wife and I like to people watch on the rare occasions we are able to dine out. We try to find a table near the kitchen and/or entrance so we can watch the work staff and see people coming and going. I understand how someone would prefer a quiet dinner out, but for us, let 'er rip!

[Rattlesnake Guy]

RG and I ate out a lot with our young children. We considered this important family time and RG always brought plenty of stuff to keep them busy. I can't tell you how many place mats we drew 3d drawings of various objects on with crayons. Now my youngest is a senior in Mechanical Engineering.

We lived successfully by the one strike rule. If the kids acted up one time, we were gone. RG would take the kids to the car and I would pay the bill at whatever stage the meal was at. I think we did this maybe 3 times. It is tremendously effective. Kids learn fast. Soon they learned to behave as required and they developed social skills by ordering their own food and interacting with the wait person.

We actually got to dread having to be seated in the kids section as we did not want to be exposed to parents who were clueless at just how annoying their crying kid can be. And just because they are used to hearing their kid whine and complain at home, it is not something others can just deal with easily.

Should a private business be free to restrict kids if they want to, certainly. Should you exercises your right to punish or reward them for it, absolutely. Will a restaurant be successful for such a policy, some will, some won't.

Now as I get on my 16 hour flight, I pray to God almighty that business class will save me from the children of others.

[tis]

Maybe a restaurant should put a sign out reserving the right to ask someone to leave if there children are not acting appropriately. No, probably not, in this politically correct day and age, they would probably get sued. But it IS too bad to punish all children for those whose parent's can't or don't make them mind. Our kids would be taken out if they couldn't behave too. It is the same way for dogs. WE carry our dogs everywhere they are allowed now that our kids are grown. People remark often how well behaved they are and lots of them even say better than most kids. But dogs, too, have been given a bad name because so many of them have bad manners.

Oh, and when someone takes a child to a wedding and the child distracts from the wedding, I think that is the worst!!!! Sorry to go a little off topic.

[trfour]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

Derailing this even further...

Nevermind the good wine... who has good - I mean, GREAT beer?

Argie's Wife, If you haven't tried it, and you like good beer, try some Beck's. Patrick's Pub has it, and/or others what should satisfy Y'All!

Terry
______________________________

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by trfour

Argie's Wife, If you haven't tried it, and you like good beer, try some Beck's. Patrick's Pub has it, and/or others what should satisfy Y'All!

Terry
______________________________

Tried it... liked it... but I like the really thick, dark, murky... almost like a milkshake in texture... malty... smoky... yum... stuff.... Beck's was a bit light...

Back to topic... (sorry for the derail...)

[Pineedles]

Not sure how you would arbitrate this if there is a disagreement, but how about a discount for well behaved children? Advertise it as, if there are no complaints from other diners while your child is dining with us, they get 10 or 20% off the child's meal. Its anonymous, so there would be no argumets between patrons. It certainly would reward the parents of the well behaved children and might wake up those parents that haven't a clue about their children's behavior.

[SIKSUKR]

Next time I go out to eat with Pineedles I'm sitting in a high chair so we can get that discount.

[trfour]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

Tried it... liked it... but I like the really thick, dark, murky... almost like a milkshake in texture... malty... smoky... yum... stuff.... Beck's was a bit light...

Back to topic... (sorry for the derail...)

Beck's makes a dark version, and if thats not enough, they also make an October Fest version, that would have knocked my sox off since years ago...
Dang, you're a tough women!
Terry
________________________________

[chipj29]

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

Good point, though this somewhat assumes they have floor space and budget to properly create two distinct dining spaces.

The issue is more likely they are working with limited resources and find that 95% of their clientele is adults, and 5% is adults with mutant offsrping in tow (yes, I'm being a tad over the top).

Having a small touch of experience in the restaurant biz, adults who bring mutant offspring and are oblivious to their antics are also often high-maintenance, low-tipping, generally troublesome patrons. Perhaps it is in the businesses' best interest to simply encourage those customers not dine there? They likely realize that they may also lose some business from people like yourself or AW who likely have perfectly acceptable offspring, but it might amount to less than a rounding error, plus increased business from diners who are then more assured of a pleasant meal at the establishment.

Great post, agree completely.

[SAMIAM]

Sounds like Rattlesnake Guy has got parenting dialed in right. Kids learn fast.
Seems like, in this day and age things have changed from when us generation Xers were bringing up our kids.
Somehow, many of us suffered through an actual spanking and lived without permanent damage to our self esteem.....went on to lead productive lives.
We used to call them temper tantrums and wouldn't tolerate it.....now they are called "meltdowns" and many parents just let 'em rip......even heard a few moms chuckling, as they compared notes on their two year olds pitching a fit in a store.
Doesn't bother me, though.....lot more important things to worry about......gotta love 'em all, even the little devils.

[Rag Top Daze]

I remember back in the day when this discussion was about smoking and non smoking restaurants. I fee about kids the same was as the old smoking issue. If a restaurant makes their no kid policy known, you either choose to eat there, or go someplace else.

[SIKSUKR]

Kind of along the same lines as this thread, I had a funny dining experience on Friday. My better half and I went to eat at T-bones in Bedford. We sat outside(very nice) and found that they allow dogs there. 4 tables had dogs and all were well behaved. But I digress. I actually mentioned that all 5 of the 8 tables had kids and they were all really well behaved.

Here was the funny part. We overheard the father at the table next to us say to his son "If you don't eat that your paying for it". The kid ate his food. Maybe the same strategy would work with with mutant offspring.

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

Here was the funny part. We overheard the father at the table next to us say to his son "If you don't eat that your paying for it". The kid ate his food. Maybe the same strategy would work with with mutant offspring.

Oh, yes! In our house the rule is if you asked for it, took it, or touched it and don't eat it, expect it to show up again at your next meal. (Ditto for restaurant left-overs!)

The only time we don't enforce that rule is if there's something wrong with the food (overcooked or undercooked, etc.)

[baygo]

I have been anxious to chime in on this since it first came up, but when I found time to return my computer came up lame. It's fixed now so here's my view.

I introduce a similar topic when surveying the forum prior to a our soft opening at Tavern 27. My thoughts before the survey were to practice "children welcome before prime dinning hours". The forum feed-back influenced me to choose not to operate under such a policy. I am so glad that I was swayed away. We have several families that have become loyal guests. In many cases the children have had surprisingly good behavior. Some have expressed their appreciation for our food in a more colorful and articulate manner than some adults have. There are also a couple of families who come together. We seat the adults together at one table and the children at a neighboring table. The children get pizza fast followed by a Scrabble board.. while the adults enjoy a Tapas flow.

I have also had moments of regret; A party of 5 with a 2 or 3 year old boy reserved our fireplace seating area. The child came in with a ball and upon his second step thru the door stated throwing it around. Next he started to run around screaming in the company of guests who were out for a romantic evening. Then the child let out a large screech and mom started yelling. I asked them to leave

Children are our future. McDonald's built an empire by marketing with a clown and providing a playground.

Perhaps the trick is to welcome the children but have a trick up the sleeve to entertain or occupy them and a room to separate them from adult diners who prefer a child=fee environment.

[Kamper]

Originally Posted by baygo

... the child let out a large screech and mom started yelling. I asked them to leave ...

Few food-service operators have (guts) large enough to try that. They look on puzzled as other patrons box up the rest of their meal and leave without dessert, coffee, aperitif - or plans to return.

[Newbiesaukee]

I have avoided this discussion as it is as much about "what is wrong with our society" as about the specific issue. Not that there is anything wrong with discussing our societal problems, just not here.

Anyway, I never liked Canoe's adult only and family only dining policy. My children are grown and the grandchildren are rarely here, but by relegating all families to one room you are actually punishing the families with well -behaved children who are then subjected to the ill-behaved children. It's only fair that we all should deal with the brats ( or poorly raised children if you prefer).

There really is no simple answer, but it's been a slow day for me, so I chimed in.

[Rattlesnake Guy]

Perhaps a well behaved section and a poorly behaved section. Age has little to do with it sometimes. I wonder how many people know which room is appropriate for their family? Like survivor, the other guest could vote them out of the room. Or into the parking lot.

[Resident 2B]

Originally Posted by Newbiesaukee

I have avoided this discussion as it is as much about "what is wrong with our society" as about the specific issue. Not that there is anything wrong with discussing our societal problems, just not here.

Anyway, I never liked Canoe's adult only and family only dining policy. My children are grown and the grandchildren are rarely here, but by relegating all families to one room you are actually punishing the families with well -behaved children who are then subjected to the ill-behaved children. It's only fair that we all should deal with the brats ( or poorly raised children if you prefer).

There really is no simple answer, but it's been a slow day for me, so I chimed in.

I totally agree!

We were relegated to the kids room a few times many years ago. I stopped going to Canoe then and, although my kids are now 16 to 26, we have never returned.

We eat out as a group of 4 to 10 roughly eight times a summer at the lake, plus many other times throughout the year. The memories of the rudeness that Canoe management and staff displayed back then still keeps us away. I see nothing right about banning well behaved kids from open dining. And to subject well behaved kids to the others that are not well behaved is not at all helping to solve any problem.

Just my opinion, I realize others have conflicting opinions which is their right. Glad none of our money is visiting Canoe and their unfair policy.

R2B

[TOAD]

I think we shoud just ban children....period!

[MarkinNH]

I'm with Toad.
There must be at least 1 island in lake Winnipesaukee that we can designate to be the island for misfit children.
Then we need to find another island to banish their parents to, since their ultimately to blame for their children's poor behavior.

[TOAD]

Actually Mark I was thinking more along the lines of banning everyone from even having anymore kids. Obviously some of the newborn kids are going to upset some folks who are eating out as they grow an learn.