Child only area in restaurant- discriminatory?

Totally agree!

Excellent idea. I would love an area like that to meet the needs of my child. Enhancing their experience and my food experience with like minded people beside me. If I had no children paying hard earned money for noise and sometimes running around beside me would disturb my enjoyment.

In the highly unlikely scenario that this happens, generally parents of children with disabilities are kind and considerate to each other and would be able to cooperate with the assistance of the establishment and find a solution that doesn’t require anyone to leave.

If all the “gentle” parents made their children sit to a table nicely then this wouldn’t be an issue. I don’t know when it became acceptable to allow your children to run riot in places like restaurants but I guarantee it was closely followed by “family friendly” areas being created. You have all this to look forward to OP

Children are not dogs.

Get a grip of course its reasonable.

SOME toddlers. Mine were used to viewing a meal as a vehicle for chatting. I hated the soft play type restaurants so avoided them.

I think it’s a great idea for everyone tbh. People get to eat their meals without kids shrieking and parents can relax a bit knowing that if their kid is playing up, they’re seating with other parents who get it, kids get to actually enjoy a meal out and have a play while eating. Since becoming a parent decent restaurant that have a play area inside or out are a god send!

It's basic science. Children's brains are not fully developed, therefore, they will be more likely to display challenging behaviour. They also go through teething, growth spurts etc which can make them agitated and cause them to cry and shriek.

I'd say the same for dogs in restaurants/public houses, have a designated corner for them and leave the rest of it for those who want to enjoy their meal in peace.

Chances are that these days 90% of the tables will have at least one autistic child on them. And many claim their child is ‘undiagnosed’ autistic, ie they’ve decided they’re autistic without medical confirmation. So I can see the excuses will rebound loudly round the restaurant should their child’s behaviour be challenged. I think if you have an autistic child who is not high functioning, who is incapable of sitting relatively quietly, you might have to avoid a dining experience at a restaurant or similar and go to somewhere catering mostly for kids, like macdonalds or play centres which incorporate dining. Just because a child is autistic, it doesn’t trump the needs of the many other people eating who just want to eat in relatively peaceful surroundings I’m afraid.

Yep. And also too many ineffectual parents who think there's no alternative to letting their children scream and run riot in public because 'you can't stop them'. Yes you can.

I agree with you OP despite us being in the overwhelming minority!

Unfortunately children are not a protected class and so it is not seen as discriminatory...despite the behaviour being very much so.

The assumption from most posters here is: children = noisy & badly behaved; adults = quiet & well behaved. But of course this is not true because you can't generalise across any group of people.

Substitute this with any of the actual protected classes...people of x ethnicity / gender / sexual orientation / religion etc must all sit together because they are noisy and badly behaved and people of another ethnicity / gender / sexual orientation / religion etc should not have to be subjected to it. Wouldn't fly would it?

Once upon a time it was deemed acceptable by some to say that "coloured" people were dirty and that's why white people couldn't share bathrooms with them. That was horrific and ridiculous.

But apparently saying ALL children are badly behaved and noisy and unpleasant to be around and therefore they should be segregated is okay? Why is that so different?

I remember being out with my Grandad in the early 90s and family rooms where very much a thing.

YABU! A 14 month old can make quite a lot of noise in a restaurant. It sounds as though this restaurant has taken a sensible approach in welcoming children but only in designated areas. The absolute "racket" is what the adult diners want to avoid. If you've worked hard all week, looking forward to treating yourself and your husband or whomever to a meal out, the last thing you want is it being spoilt by a screaming child, running everywhere whilst the waitress tries to deliver your food.

It also tends to be public houses that do carveries, again, being a licensed bar, this would be primarily an adult environment.

I really think they've called a good compromise here with their set up, even providing dedicated children's toys, bravo.

But if they told you that when you booked you could make the choice to go elsewhere.

Somehere with any sort of soft play was always discounted when DS was younger (and now he is 16 too!) because I knew he wouldn’t cope with the noise. You pick where you go based on who you are going with.

Very sensible idea as people will be walking back to their tables with hot food. You never want hot food to drop on your child ever. Children in the soft play area will not be too interested in running around other areas which are dangerous.

Also, I'm not a fan of carveries and prefer my food served in a nice portion.

I thinks it’s a great idea too……..maybe that particular establishment has had complaints from customers and decided to separate diners with children from those without?

It's not that unlikely these days, statistically. Which adults should swap?

A sign of the times I guess. This didn’t used to be necessary in bygone days when children were taught to sit relatively quietly whilst in a public place - being taught to be considerate of others around them. Now it’s like dining in a creche with parents just letting their kids run riot/feral. It’s the actions of a few which has made this kind of system necessary I’m afraid.

Having been out for a meal in a restaurant where a family let their children run round as if it was a playground screaming their heads off whilst their parents sat on their phones, I welcome that. It is not discriminatory at all. They might keep a closer eye on their children.

Lol my DH and I met friends in a pub/inn more than 20 years ago [before we had ids of our own] which was family centric and thus in the children's area it was chaos. 30 odd kids, a bloody magician entertainer etc. My husband was actually pale from shock when we left as he felt as though he had just experienced a ‘chimp’s tea party’ and needed to go home and open some beers and recover from his ears feeling as though they were bleeding.

Oddly we never experienced an eatery like that once we had children of our own, possibly because DH has steadfastly refused to go to ‘family friendly’ settings.

They usually allow reasonable adjustments.

If it's two - unlikely than I would expect adults to not be cunts and one of non autistic adults to swap table.

I bet your child loved it. Kids love being down with the other kids.

What if your autistic child's behaviour bothers another autistic child? Who leaves? Should the restaurant provide soundproofed booths? (Actually I'd like one of these)

My child is autistic and very sensitive to loud and busy environments. When I book a table anywhere I ask in advance to be in a quiet location with extra space if possible, never been anywhere unable to accommodate this or had anyone unhappy about sitting near us. If we were put in a noisy children’s area we wouldn’t be able to stay so definitely discriminatory to some families.