To tell off kids in the pub

If i was in a particularly bitchy mood, id submit a safeguarding referral to social care for leaving children unattended in a pub.

Absolute nonsense. Pubs are adult environments in the evenings especially. Pubs which are also restaurants are different and of course well-behaved children are welcome to come and eat a meal with their family. But pubs that aren't also restaurants are adult environments, full stop. This nonsense attitude that some people have towards children being entitled to be anywhere they please and infiltrate adult spaces just because it suits their parents is just that - entitled nonsense. There are many places where families with children are welcome. Pubs in the evening are places for adults. Why should an adult have to moderate their language or conversation content in a pub in the evening to accommodate children? I really really don't think that children not being welcome in pubs in the evening is a reason people are having less children, either.

Please can we stop this anti kid stuff about no children in pubs after 7

The atmosphere in european cities (ie. SPain) where children are seen all the time til late at night in bars and pubs is SO much better than the depressing booze fuelled focus in the UK with people drinking and fighting in our town centres.

Look into a bar on a summer evening in spain and children are up at the bar, chatting, asleep under tables, playing outside - there is total tolerance of them.

this means families spend more money and time outdoros and socialising - instead of pubs relying only on people who drink to get drunk

What is true is hearing loud ipads is shit.

The op mentioned fireworks. Was there a display at the pub? You'd expect there to be lots of kids if there was a firework display...

Highly likely she’d have got a mouthful of abuse. A lot of parents don’t seem to take kindly to being asked to parent their kids.

The parents were not with their kids.

This!

Speak to the staff or, better still, ask to speak to the manager. Leave feedback on TripAdvisor.

Yes of course. People should stay in their homes so useless so-called parents can continue to not bother parenting. Absolutely. 🙄

Tell me, are you also one of those people who goes around saying it takes a village to make a child?

Took 10 year old DC (not mine) to pub after adult family meeting at which DC had to be because of babysitting. We played a game with DC all the time we were there - a Q and A game - and DC perfectly happy as were we, it was fun. No-one was disturbed. Who are these people who park their DC with an iPad and have their own conversations? Not a very good intro to how a pub works, either.

Agreed. Some parents are so entitled and think their kids have a right to destroy the experience of everyone around them. It they need to bring them to the pub then bring headphones. So many people seem to have zero consideration.

Hard agree. Adults deserve somewhere they can congregate without kids.

So - a group of men, then. So completely nothing to do with the OP’s situation.

Parents were twats so not that surprising the kids were too. Twats because they weren’t with their kids keeping an eye on them, twats to think that volume with no headphones is every acceptable in a public place. No matter how noisy a place is, that tinny pitch of electronic sounds always cuts through.

YANBU this is so annoying. I would feel the 6as you.

YANBU- we only generally go to a pub for food, but when we do we do bring iPads for my children to play games on I however bring their headphones, I wouldn’t allow them to have it loud enough to annoy other customers and their parents shouldn’t of neither it’s common courtesy and manners!

I don’t like your comment on ‘iPads babysitting’ as you don’t know their circumstances.

I would find another pub, and let the management of the one you are leaving know why they won’t be getting your custom any more. If they lose paying customers in significant numbers they might rethink their policies about when to allow children in during “adult” hours.

YANBU with bells on.

If parents have to use this technique for entertainement anywhere including planes, pubs ie anywhere public they should have headphones or not use them.

went out for a nice meal with family on Christmas Day and was ruined by the din of Conputer games kids were playing at the (more than one) table. I mean what level of cf is this. Never eaten out again. Happy with chatter and laughter but not an orchestra of electronic dings, bells, wizzes and whoops. If you must use headphones!

I work in a pub and I think you should have spoken to the staff about it. It would have saved you getting into conflict with the parents.
We have a policy that any tech needs to have the volume down or wear headphones to be respectful to other customers. That includes adults as well as children!

I would have told the parents that they need to be sat with their kids supervising them and that the ipads needed to be turned down or headphones used.
If they gave me any trouble i could radio a manager.

Anyone who thinks that is unreasonable or you should have minded your own business probably let their feral kids annoy the general public.

YANBU, we’ve been taking our kids out to the pub since they were born - either for a family meal or stopping for a glass of wine (us) or a juice (them) on the way back from a family day out. They’re now 5 and 3 and their behaviour when we’re in a pub/restaurant is excellent, partly I think because they’ve had it drummed into them how they behave when we’re out. And they’re fairly rowdy kids when we’re outside/at home so I’m under no illusions 😉So I have no problem seeing kids in the pub, I actually think it’s good training for going to more formal places when they’re older IF the parents are prepared to actually parent them (ours would never be in a pub later than 7pm given their ages but I’m sure when they’re older I wouldn’t rule it out, depending on the pub. There are plenty of places I don’t want to be after 7pm!)

However, any use of a tablet or phone without headphones - by a child or adult, in any public place - should be punishable by hanging IMO. It’s so incredibly and horribly antisocial.

Both my kids have Amazon Fire tablets that are used in very limited circumstances - long distance travel and, for my youngest, at his sisters swimming lesson as it’s not an environment you can colour or do jigsaws in. But if we forget the headphones, the sound is off, and if that’s a problem, the device is off.

We had a lunch out lad Saturday there were 3 children under 5 running around screaming, the little two year old who was sweet kept coming up to our dog, however there was no parent to supervise or ask is she was okay to pat. It was a big pub with lots of rooms and the parents had no visibility. It had a big car park on to a duel carriageway. I’m sure they were fine but always kept out little DcS with us and we always explained expectations if we went anywhere.

How loud were the ipads that they weren’t drowned out by the pub noise?

I don’t really care if kids are on ipads, they aren’t my kids, least they were sitting down not running around screaming or climbing on tables.

Issue is with the parents they should have turned the ipads down and you should have asked them not the kids. Poor kids were probably knackered and just wanted to go home.