Is this "Ok" social etiquette now? AIBU

[Weathergames]

And a grumpy cow?

OH and I have no kids this weekend (we have 6 between us they are all with their dads mums).

Went for a pub lunch down the road today family pub, not posh. Lots of families in there in the restaurant, big christening party. We were sat next to a couple with a baby, prob 18 months old. Fine (not in the christening party).

Couple fed the baby first and he sat next to their table in a high chair. Their food arrived and they put a mobile phone in front of him and proceeded to eat their food while he watched an episode of Peppa Pig which was clearly audible from our table.

Is this ok? It was REALLY irritating (I hate having the TV on during a meal anyway) and really detracted from our meal and we left as soon as we had finished eating. Just felt it was so inconsiderate of other diners and they should've been interacting with their child.

Or am I just a grumpy cow?

I'd prefer Peppa tbh - it makes me feel nostalgic

If you have headphones on, Kew, proper ones that keep the noise in, then you are golden as far as I'm concerned.

Well I didn't have headphones on but excell doesn't make much of a noise. DS had proper over the head big padded ones and I couldn't hear anything. He wears them because the noise irritates me not out of courtesy to anyone else

But I gather that children using a tablet in a public place will turn them into antisocial monsters.

YANBU. If they're too young to use headphones, they're too young to be using a smartphone.

.

I must admit, I'm so glad that as my kids are adults we don't have to go to these awful places anymore.

Half the reason people don't say anything is because of the likelihood of one of the delightful parents kicking off.

When you go to a nice restaurant/pub, where "those" people don't go, you know the staff and other diners will back you up...

The thing is, this is a 18 month old, not a 4 or 5 year old who might be able to have a long conversation or play card games or eye spy. He is most likely largely non verbal and has a very short attention span. Entertaining a toddler of that age stuck in a high chair for an hour or more by playing eye spy or using a colouring book is just not going to be possible with the average child.

I think the skill parents are teaching here is first to sit around a table for that length of time during a meal, and use of whatever distraction techniques possible is absolutely fine. And yes a screen usually is the most effective method (providing the volume doesn't disturb other diners). Using a sackful of toys that last 20 seconds each before being thrown on the floor isn't fun for anyone. The skill of conversing around the table with family and not using any distractions comes much later, fgs!!!

Also don't understand the screen hatred. As long as everything is used in moderation, what can possibly be the issue? The child will likely spend most of its life in front of a screen from school age onwards, that's life now....

Below has to be one of my favourite posts, from earlier in the thread

"YABU

go somewhere not 'family friendly' if you have such a stuffy attitude towards children

I imagine for the 15 mins it took the parents to eat, Peppa was a welcome relief

How self involved are some of you to think it would be ok to ask someone to turn it down.

Rude.*

Yes, of course OP - you could / should have asked the parents to turn down the annoying Pepa pig - but, as you say, you weRe being v British. And of course agree with other poster who,says we shouldn't be in the position of - why didn't on ask for a seat? hey didn't you ask for the volume to be turned down? Etc

Half the reason people don't say anything is because of the likelihood of one of the delightful parents kicking off.

Yes, it's certainly the age of "I know my rights". One must proceed with caution.

Why should people have to approach the person and ask to turn it down? Jesus wept, Mumsnetters are unbelievable. Watching an IPad without headphones, not on mute is selfish, inconsiderate, lazy and so bloody entitled it's jaw-dropping.

If you want to use an iPad to entertain your child I couldn't care less, but I should definitely not have to listen to it.

I don't understand what you're complaining about? The screen time or the volume? Or both?

If it's the screen time yabu! I'd do it and I do it every time we've been out to dinner. The older 2 eat with us but the little one picks and nibbles so she's given the tablet to keep her amused.

If you are complaining about the volume, well giving them death stares and arsey side glances wasn't going to help was it? You should have asked them to turn it down.

BigRed why should the onus be on people to have to complain about other people behaving inconsiderately? Why isn't the onus on people learning how not to behave inconsiderately in the first place? If your kid is playing with a tablet in a public place, that's entirely up to you, but the volume should either be turned off entirely, or your kid should be wearing earphones.

And people don't speak up - and confine themselves to arsey glances - because the reaction is often really nasty when they do ask for the volume to be turned off.

Every time I've ever had to - politely! - ask someone to control their noise levels, whether thats tablets playing cartoons in a pub/cafe/restaurant/etc, music or films played loudly on a train, children screeching and running round (in a shop, on a train, while out eating) it has never, ever once elicited an apologetic response where the person deals with the noise. It has always, always resulted in arseyness or abuse and sometimes the parent egging the child on to make more noise.

If you're enough of an arse to disrupt others with your noise you're enough of an arse to not give a shit if requested to stop ime.

One think you can count on is people behaving defensively.