Another lunch ruined by other peoples’ children

Absolutely agree. I loath badly behaved children in aeroplanes, supermarkets and restaurants . If your little darlings can’t behave then stay at home , take them to the park, for a walk, to the trampoline park BUT don’t expect other people to put up with them.

Know I’m going to be flamed but I feel so much better to get that off my chest. And yes I have got children and they weren’t always well behaved but they were NEVER inflicted on others.

Two is still young and if you’re teaching her how to behave when out then I suspect OP not aimed at you 😊

Cute tractor noises? Oh no! The world will end!
Running around, throwing things, making a mess, or screaming - totally with you - either they are bored or overwhelmed and need something to do or to go out for a break.

I was in Pizza Express recently and a woman strapped her hysterically screaming 3yo into its buggy and proceeded to sit with her husband eating her dinner like nothing was happening. The sound was insane and went on and on. In the end the manager went over and told her it wasn’t acceptable.
I don’t mind noise from kids but this was unacceptable.

Thankfully we've moved on from being 'seen and not heard' and physical abuse as punishment.

Expecting CHILDREN to be QUIET oh my god what a disgusting notion.

Come on now, this was the least expected of me behaviour wise as a child

Not sure when we pivoted away from this but..

...parent your children.

I'll bite. Why is it so hard for some parents to teach manners? When my DD was little, we took her to restaurants and if she behaved badly, one of us would take her out for a bit. It wasn't that tricky. If I go out for lunch, I see lots of lovely well-behaved kids, but there are always a few being absolutely feral. It can't be fun for either the children or their parents.

I agree. If my children were being like that, enough to disrupt other diners we would remove them. Either just leave or take it in turns to take them outside. It's not fair to ruin other people's meals. It seems to be getting worse now too, people seem to not want to tell children to sit nicely in their seats and not be too loud.

You need to go somewhere more expensive and non family friendly. It's the only way!

You can always tell the posters who let their brats run riot.
Parent your kids FFS.

How will children learn if they aren't taken out? My 2 year old is a handful as are most but I still take her out to cafes etc (if she is misbehaving I do try and keep her in line not always easily). As time goes on she's getting much better behaved out and about because she's learning, which she wouldn't do if I were to keep her at home.

Planet good manners?
Children are perfectly capable of sitting and chatting, colouring etc.
If they wish to run and shriek, pack a picnic and head to a park.

Plot twist op was at softplay

Most children are perfectly capable of sitting quietly.

Too many are permanently overstimulated these days so they have no attention span. Being bored for a while is a good life lesson.

I’m on the fence. Not because I think it’s fine for kids to scream and chuck food wherever they are, but because there seems to be a massive grey area over where is/isnt child friendly now.

I took my 2 DC to a cafe this morning, it had a kids menu up outside so I assumed it would be child friendly. I felt like a massive PITA wheeling my massive pram in, parking it up next to a table and managing my 4 and 1 year olds, because the majority of people inside seemed to be elderly or middle aged people meeting for fancy afternoon teas.

I want to be able to take my children out because I think it’s important they learn to behave and cope in society and around the public, but the only places on offer seem to be hellholes full of grubby soft play equipment and chips, or places which claim to be child friendly but have no pram space and are frequented by people who want to have their food in peace.

And yet many parents manage to teach their children how to behave….

Not this old chestnut

I have said this indoor voices so many times in my life

we are on hol in Poole at the moment and I have been surprised at the total shit parenting witnesses pretty much everywhere we have been- parent to kid- “wash your hands with soap” in a bathroom kid “no” then walks off unwashed hands… just one of 100 examples

Mumsnet is full of shit gentle parents who don't discipline their kids so they'll all be here soon to tell you you shouldn't go out in public OP.

I'm a parent and I agree with you.
My parents always told us 'children should be seen and not heard', and would have given us a good hiding (literally) for that behaviour; both which are seen as very unacceptable now.

I'd never let DD run round ruining people's lunches. I'm not daft enough to believe other people like my child or want to hear her.
I wouldn't take her to somewhere that wasn't particularly child friendly until she was older and I was sure she knew how to behave.

Totally agree it is not just children who make noise in public.

I was on a train and there was a large group being extremely loud, they were a long way from us but really annoying.

Ofcourse it matters, until you have a child you don’t realise how hard it is. I agree children shouldn’t be running riot, but come on, sit there quietly?! What planet is the OP on?

I fully agree with you as a Mum of 3. I manage to keep my children reasonably quiet and contained when eating out. Without screens too. It's not impossible.

Yes, it is!

Parent your children fgs.
Teach them indoor voices, sitting still and praise the behaviour you want to see.
I am so sick of the weak, helpless and ineffective parenting nowadays.