Parents should pick up after their kids who make mess in restaurants

[LifeofI]

Do you think so?

I was in a restaurant today with my friend and her two year old, her child always eats about 4 chips then the rest she just throws the food around. When we were leaving a lady made a comment "aren't you going to clean that up" my friend didn't hear but i did and said no and she just tutted.

When i got home me and my partner had a discussion and he thinks the parents should clean up after their child as he has work as a waiter and said it is annoying but i'm on the fence about it. We have a very young baby who hasn't started eating solids so we are not at that stage.

What do you think?

I have two very messy eaters and can often be found crawling under tables to retrieve what they have dropped, its just plain rude not to do it as best you can.

lily a nappy?!?
Now that is taking it to a whole new level...

I'm actually slight amazed at the number of people who say they clear up in a restaurant. I've never seen anybody clearing up the floor in a restaurant, okay maybe picking up bits of food off the table back onto a plate when finished. That would be totally bizarre to me to see someone down under the table picking up chips.

As said by someone else here, surely part of what you are paying for when you go to a restaurant (and the reason that restaurant food costs so much more than the price of the ingredients) is that you DON'T have to clear up the table afterwards like you do at home.

Having said that I would not let a child of any age deliberately throw food on the floor or make an excessive mess. Mine are older now but when they were small I always took some toys or books to occupy them, and I would have taken the plate away from them if they started messing about with their food. Plus, on a slightly different note, I expect my children to eat food I have paid for, unless they clearly had a much larger portion than normal, I would not tolerate throwing away food that has been bought for them.

I would think that any staff would think you were weird if you started actually cleaning the table or floor with wipes or similar.

I wouldn't let my child throw food around in the first place.
I always tidy the table a little after a meal. I thought everyone did?

As nanny said you cant always stop them from doing that.
But then I wouldn't go to a cafe with a child that I knew would do that either...

Absolutely! It's about having respect for those around you and your surroundings.Why should the staff have to clear up excessive mess just because your friends little darlings chuck their food around!

Just because someone else is paid to clean up it doesn't mean you can behave like animals. Be a decent human being and have some self respect.
OP YABU a few crumbs , a bit of ice cream no one minds but to say a two year sat there and threw a bowl of of chips around! And you see no problem with this?!

I bet the slobs that leave a mess behind them are the first to moan when service isn't quick enough, because the staff is busy clearing up a disgusting mess left behind by a revoltingly lazy parent. Have you thought how it looks to other customers? That would have been all that it would have taken to put my very ill husband off his food. I'm sure any other person who is ill, pregnant or delicate would find half chewed, slobber covered food off putting. NOT ENVY!

I always clean up, pick up large pieces of food and wipe down if I can. Why would someone not see it as their job to clean after their own child?
We used to go out for meals with friends who had 2 boys the same age as our DD, they always made a mess and the parents never cleaned up, it was really embarrassing going out with them, so we stopped!

I don't see how you can always stop a child from throwing food around. When DDs were at that stage I did clear up as much as I could, its something you do automatically surely? But Im sure I didn't clear up perfectly and precisely each time! I dealt with what I could see it wasn't a case of leaving it all pristine for the staff, if you have a restaurant where children can eat then some mess is a part of the job. Mind you having worked in the food trade many moons ago Im aware there are adults who are also very messy and with their entitled selves won't clean up a bit after themselves, but will look askance at a child making a bit of mess!

Of course you should clean up after yourself/your child.

Not just in restaurants but everywhere. Staff in public places are not paid enough to clean up after kids because the parents are too lazy and snobby to do it themselves.

I always tidy my table in a restaurant before I leave - eg putting everything on the tray etc and if I am outside I take it into the cafe before I go.

I worked in a library for about a year and I was amazed at the laziness of the parents. Kid tips all the books on the floor. "Oh don't worry, the lady will pick them up". Yes the lady will because she has no choice, but the parent should do it.

People care so little about those who have to clean up behind them. Its just disrespectful really. Of course you should clean after your child 100% yes the same as you should clean after yourself what if an adult were to throw chips around a restaurant and walk out leaving them there? In one of my jobs I have to clean the loos where people spit chewing gum in urinals, put straws in toilets, Poo on the floor instead of in the toilet, smear it over walls and seats. Leave sanitary towels tampons, nappies lying on floors instead of in bins, tissues and make up everywhere and that's tip of iceberg. Just have a little thought about the people who have to come behind you.

er, simple, you remove it from their reach

we are talking about a child who is not actually eating "throwing chips around" not dropping bits and pieces in the course of their meal.

You give them their food. They eat it, or if they are messing with it by throwing it like an animal, you take it away. It's really simple.

Of course you bloody should. Anything above and beyond expected mess (the odd crumpled napkin, some crumbs).

Why do you need to have worked in the food service industry to understand this?

Get off the fence and tidy your mess.

I was at Frankie and Bennies last week with a 4 year old, a six year old and a baby. No chips on the floor at the end but we did have a major spillage. Basically we used the napkins on the table to mop up and put them on one of the by now empty plates (and apologised profusely to the waiter who bought our bill and took it away. I checked the seats as we left (we were in a round booth) and found a rogue chip, picked it up and placed on table on our empty dessert plate. That I think is normal behaviour (also there was a dropped colouring pencil so that got picked up too). Not too much to ask/expect I think.

I stater bristle when you said she ate a few, then just threw them around.
Yes she's young but sorry - not on my watch!
I don't think you should pick,up every tint bit that accidently drops, but there again done leave the place like a family of piggies have eaten there !!

I also think YABU. I always pick up the stuff that fell onto the floor (the bigger bits, not a few crumbs, obviously) and will do a rough sweep of the table with a napkin to collect the worst of the spillage & deposit those on a plate. It seems rude not to. I'm astonished it's even a question, tbh.

Good grief yes. I always put all plates, cups etc back onto a tray and give the table a wipe (even with just a napkin) too. Whether I'm out with children or not. Walking away leaving a mess is arrogant and entitled.

Make a fair attempt to wipe/tidy up with what you have to hand (or can ask for). Bread crumbs on floor, or rice that is a genuine lack of coordination, not so much (though if a whole bowl of rice, yes),

I had a three or four year old with (then undiagnosed) hypotonia, coordination disorder, ASD/ADHD, who was challenged in eating/using cutlery (would spill drinks both accidentally and less so - no impulse control; but still had his own sippy cup). I was shocked when asked to pay halfway through a meal, leave and not to return to a restaurant because "the people at the next table have complained about your child's behaviour, the mess he is making and how disgusting it is when he eats," even though I was clearing up as I went along, and as a regular, did always make a good effort to clean up (put a mat under the child/table, long bib w pelican pocket, wiped him before he left for the child play area (not carrying food). I protested but they saiid "just look at him!!"

Admittedly he was going on about the "Fat Controller" and was sensory-motivated (did smush up food into his mouth/remove half eaten food despite my best efforts) and could not hold cutlery.

I was so angry - went there most weeks, always tipped well, cleared up mess.

I'm on the train heading home after a meeting...some skaky bugger has left a packet of rolls on a seat, the packet has burst and the are crumbs and chunks of bread all over the seat. But hey, never mind, here comes the cleaner - he'll sort it out Others have left rubbish on seats and tables despite there being a bin at the end of the carriage that they have to walk past to get off. Keeps in the cleaner in a job I suppose...

(I don't suppose, I'm being facetious. There really are some absolute skanks out there)

I'm very lucky to have a DS who has never been a food thrower or major mess maker (now he is 8 he is actually slightly germ-phobic). When we go out we tidy as is appropriate for the setting - in Macdonalds everything goes in the bin, in places like Costa if there is a bin we use it, if not, everything is put neatly together in the centre of the table. I put rubbish, particularly used napkins inside other things so they don't have to be touched.

I hate our local Pret because there ARE bins, but only half the customers use them! It's always packed and people fight for tables and you invariably get the manky one with loads of rubbish and sticky spills. The staff are far too busy to clear that as well so I end up clearing the table otherwise my DS won't want to sit there. In a restaurant we keep it neat, but not excessively. My XDP was in service and told me NEVER stack plates, servers have their own methods. So we move plates to the end of the table so they're easier to reach. I will mop spills, drips and food that's fallen off plates and pick up large bits that are a slipping risk, but I'll be fucked if I'm getting under a table and cleaning that shit, as it's probably left over from others who've not cleaned up!

A two year old is quite old enough to be told a firm 'no' if they throw food. It's not too soon to teach them not to litter. That parent seems typical of the 'me' brigade who think this sort of behaviour is acceptable.

I tidy up as best as possible I.e. Pick up big pieces of food.

Look at it as, if you went to a friends house would you expect them to tidy up after your child has flung food here there and everywhere. No you would pick/wipe up what you could