Child only area in restaurant- discriminatory?

Then you go to another restaurant, how hard can it be.

We are not pandering to parents anything, we just want peace and quiet when we are child-free.

No. I think the same.

what do you mean "early"?

Kids are not vampire, they are out and about at any time of the day and evening

I can see why this might appeal-but I would never, when mine were little, have taken them in the children’s area just us as a family. I might have if I was in a group with several families and lots of children.

I disagree with this. Not all parents need a soft play area in a restaurant as their children have been brought up to think that a meal is a chance for chatting to each other while eating. We shouldn’t be pandering to parents who want their children away from them while eating.

This^^

sometimes I'd take kids there & sit near the noisy soft play so they could have fun, other times I'd go somewhere that doesn't have soft play so we could just have a calm meal.

what I wouldn't do is complain they expected children (& their parents) to sit in a separate area to adult only diners anywhere, but ESPECIALLY in a pub that has a dedicated play area.

Correct! However those areas also have the noise from machines/play things

YABU.

You didn’t want the racket of other people’s children, just as no one wants the racket of your child ….

Why do you go out to eat so early

I can see your point, mine were expected to behave when out for food and a play area would have made this hard (they would have loved it though!). On the other hand most children aren’t taught to behave in restaurants so this is a good idea (although they will never learn that restaurants are for eating and not playing!).

I can’t say that I’ve ever been disturbed by children when I’ve been out for food so might feel differently if I had.

Yes, I'd love to know know where it is.

Sounds like a great idea.

If you don’t like it pick another restaurant.

If you'd booked and only found this when you arrived I think you'd have a legitimate gripe. But if you're turn up and go there are plenty of other eateries.

That said other than a place in Scotland where non residents in the hotel were, contrary to the sign outside, anything but welcome we never had a problem with ours.

Neither does our daughter and grandson.

I'd hazard a guess the problem is kids who are not kept engaged at table and/or once mobile are not prevented from running wild.

It's not adults who prefer to dine without children around them..... It may be the prefence but you can't generalise all. Because op isn't one of them

Guessing it’s a framhouse inn. When our kids were older, I would add a note that I wanted to be further away from the play area but still in the family area. They are older teens now so we can sit in the none family area again. It makes sense to keep all the kids / families together tbh.

Regarding the question "Is this discriminatory?"

Yes, it is. It shows the restaurant owners' ability to discriminate between adults dining with their small children and adults who prefer to dine without children all round them.

Discrimination is not always wrong; sometimes what it means is being able to tell the difference between two things without feeling obliged to judge one to be bad and the other good. For instance, someone with a particular form of colour-blindness (tritanomaly), may be unable to discriminate between blue and yellow. Most of us can discriminate between the two colours, and we are not wrong and nasty for being able to do this.

😂

Not if it’s against the policy though. They are still a child!

DS is autistic and wouldn’t have coped with it, we would pick somewhere he would. That’s not discrimination against him it’s common sense.

If there were two absolutely identical restaurants (same menu, location, etc) but one had a designated area for children to keep them separate, I would choose that one every single time.

I think some (most) parents are utterly oblivious to how loud and disruptive their little angels can be. Also, it makes perfect sense to keep the kids sat near the soft play, instead of having them barrelling back and forth through the restaurant.

Do you think that areas dedicated to children existing at all is wrong, or do you think you are okay but you personally shouldn't be expected to sit in them?

Lead me to it! I've lost count of how many pubs I've left saying 'never again!' because the eating area was full of unsupervised children.

I was child free and wouldn't be eating before 7.30pm so having children in restaurants didn't bother me....because they weren't there lol

Mix of views 😂

It's pretty unanimously against you!

At least you came back.

If they had an adults only area and sat all the adult dining without children in one area I doubt you'd have an issue with it even though it's the same thing.

Sounds awful. Many 14-month-olds are lovely and quiet! On the other hand can restaurants start having segregated spaces for the noisy adults please?