Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To tell off kids in the pub

136 replies

ReallyFkReally · 08/11/2025 01:04

Out for drinks in our local, lots of kids around due to fireworks which didn’t make it especially chilled but one particular group sitting there playing on iPads which was quite annoying so I asked them to turn it down/use headphones. Cue massive over reaction from parents saying they’re quite within their rights, we upset the kids etc etc.

AIBU to think that after 8pm on a Friday night in a pub is adult time and if you’ve got kids there you look out for them not leave an iPad as a babysitter

OP posts:
Parky04 · 08/11/2025 08:30

Our pub has a rule which states that no children are allowed in the pub after 7.30, which i think is very fair!

blunderbuss12 · 08/11/2025 08:27

YANBU
Wtf are some parents so against headphones? I know some people say 'my kids won't wear them' - that's fine, in which case they need to play with sound off (and iPad is so addictive they will do this)

KaleidoscopeSmile · 08/11/2025 08:24

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

We love to spell too

Original poster
ReallyFkReally · 08/11/2025 08:23

Woodlend · 08/11/2025 08:12

obviously watching an iPad without headphones in public ought to be illegal, but well behaved, quite under 18s ought to be allowed in a pub whenever. There are many reason why people aren’t having kids, and one of them is attitudes like this.

Show quote history

But they weren’t well behaved and quiet! The parents were rude and entitled though so no wonder the kids had no manners.

I expect noise in a pub - music, swearing, whatever. But I don’t want to listen to a kid’s iPad game in what is essentially an adult environment.

OP posts:
OvernightBloats · 08/11/2025 08:21

The children are not at fault here. The blame lies with the parents who have probably just 'dumped' their children in a corner of the pub somewhere whilst they have a drinking session.

The children have to amuse themselves somehow and they have been given ipads so they are using them.

Thinking back to the days when I was one of those children in the 70s and 80s who was just forgotten about whilst my parents drank heavily - the time in the pub sometimes really dragged. Some pubs used to have games rooms or had child-friendly pub gardens but other pubs just provided nothing.

Anyway, it is not a library, it's a pub so it is usually lively with music/chat so I don't agree with you telling off the children for wanting to keep themselves occupied with ipads.

millymollymoomoo · 08/11/2025 08:15

Ynbu

i hate this at anytime ! The amount of times I’m on a lane or train or in a cafe and parents give their kids phones or iPads to either play games on or watch programmes and they don’t use headphones. So bloody annoying

lazy Crap parenting and selfish ones too

Woodlend · 08/11/2025 08:12

Washingbasquait · 08/11/2025 01:20

Not unreasonable - in fact I think it should be illegal for anyone under 18 to be in a pub beyond 7pm.

If they need an iPad to keep them happy in the pub, they probably aren’t enjoying the pub.

obviously watching an iPad without headphones in public ought to be illegal, but well behaved, quite under 18s ought to be allowed in a pub whenever. There are many reason why people aren’t having kids, and one of them is attitudes like this.

Soontobe60 · 08/11/2025 08:10

We were sat in a pub last night and there was a group of boys on the next table. They were being very loud, swearing, shouting, using derogatory language. I didn’t go over and ask them to be quiet and use their indoor voices, or stop swearing, because it’s a pub and they were enjoying themselves. What I did do is move tables. The boys were all adult.
If the pub allows children in, then it’s hard luck. It’s certainly not your place to police their volume.

JassyRadlett · 08/11/2025 08:10

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Pick the parent who can't be arsed and whose little darlings "don't like headphones".

Anyone playing sounds from an electronic device in public without headphones is an antisocial twat. Kids have an excuse for antisocial twattery as it's on their parents to try to teach them what's socially acceptable and what's not - and what's socially acceptable is largely based on impacts on other people and the idea that society only works with a degree of reciprocal respect.

Bundleflower · 08/11/2025 08:10

landlordhell · 08/11/2025 08:06

You don’t think kids should be directly supervised by their parents in a pub?

Show quote history

Either you’ve got utterly woeful comprehension or you’ve quoted the wrong person. I’ve never said or implied that.

Original poster
ReallyFkReally · 08/11/2025 08:09

It’s not a pub that serves food so no ‘family dining’ being ruined.

OP posts:
landlordhell · 08/11/2025 08:06

Bundleflower · 08/11/2025 08:01

Brilliant idea. Then the struggling industry of pubs could struggle even more as family evening dining would be illegal. Fantastic thinking!

Show quote history

You don’t think kids should be directly supervised by their parents in a pub?

MissMoneyFairy · 08/11/2025 08:03

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

It's against the licensing law to allow children in pubs unless they are supervised at all times, I doubt that means they can sit in a different room from their parents, the landlord can be fined.

Bundleflower · 08/11/2025 08:01

Washingbasquait · 08/11/2025 01:20

Not unreasonable - in fact I think it should be illegal for anyone under 18 to be in a pub beyond 7pm.

If they need an iPad to keep them happy in the pub, they probably aren’t enjoying the pub.

Brilliant idea. Then the struggling industry of pubs could struggle even more as family evening dining would be illegal. Fantastic thinking!

Springtimehere · 08/11/2025 08:00

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Springtimehere · 08/11/2025 07:58

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Bundleflower · 08/11/2025 07:58

I have absolutely no issue with children being in pubs (assuming it’s not a rowdy place) as long as they’re not disturbing the enjoyment of others. I would 100% have done the same.

MissMoneyFairy · 08/11/2025 07:57

How old were they, the parents are lucky nothing bad happened if they were alone in a different room, I'd have asked the staff to get the parents, are there signs up in the pub about supervised/accompanied children,

landlordhell · 08/11/2025 07:55

ReallyFkReally · 08/11/2025 04:45

Parents were in another room so it wasn’t obvious who the kids belonged to.

This makes it even worse!

landlordhell · 08/11/2025 07:54

YANBU. Don’t mind kids in a pub at all but they need to be taught how to behave. Join in conversation or bring quiet activities . If they can’t then the pub is not for them Take them home and parent.

pIum · 08/11/2025 07:52

Washingbasquait · 08/11/2025 01:20

Not unreasonable - in fact I think it should be illegal for anyone under 18 to be in a pub beyond 7pm.

If they need an iPad to keep them happy in the pub, they probably aren’t enjoying the pub.

This would be terrible for business in terms of food service - I don't think it's unreasonable at all for a 16 year old (who can drink with their meal) to be having a meal with their parents between 7 and 9. Not to mention loads of the staff serving food in pubs are local teenagers under 18 themselves. There's a big difference between a 6 year old in a pub and a 16 year old.

TheWonderhorse · 08/11/2025 07:48

The kids were allowed in the pub. If their behaviour was bothering you I'd have spoken to staff.

Original poster
ReallyFkReally · 08/11/2025 07:47

It might be the decision of the pub to allow kids in but the expectation is that they’ll be supervised by their parents not a bloody iPad.

I’m old and grouchy but not completely lacking understanding - we used to go to the pub sometimes when DD was younger but usually one with a garden so she could play on the swings etc. I’d never have allowed her to annoy other people and if she did they’d have been within their rights to say so.

OP posts:
Heyhelga · 08/11/2025 06:31

I do agree with what you are saying, but ultimately it's the decision of the pub not you. Certainly wasn't your place to go telling them off. I would have just gone to another part of the pub or to another pub personally.

ParmaVioletTea · 08/11/2025 06:25

YANBU. Parents nowadays can be very selfish.