Hotel restaurant and iPads etc

[mckenzie]

We are on holiday and staying in a hotel with breakfast included.
Settle nicely at a table this morning, in the shade, over lookimgbthe gardens, watching the birds on the ledge. A family then take the table next to us.

The older child (I'm guessing age 5) is given an iPad and starts playing a game with noice so we can hear ping and pong and clapping and other computer type noises.
The younger child (I'm guessing 18 months) has a phone propped up in front of her and is watching a video of some sort so we can hear high pitched animated voices and weird music.

AIBU to expect the family to think of others and provide said children with headphones?

I'd have said something to the waiter

And what the fuck do you expect them to do about it?! Passing the responsibility of dealing with it onto someone else because you don't want to is just selfish.

Lottapianos Who made you queen of what rules govern 'public' spaces?

Maybe in the good old days before the internet existed all children engaged in meals with well behaved stimulating conversation. Or maybe children where seen and not heard.

But the world has moved on and tablets/phones are a common and widely used method of distracting children. Parents often realise they are in a public space and can determine the noise of Peppa Pig is less offensive than an unhappy noisy child.

A public space is for use by children as well as the adults. How many of the children in the restaurant where offended by the noises?

I have been to restaurants where I didn't return because I didn't like something, I didn't demand the place change to suit my personal preferences. If you dont like modern noises then go to a restaurant that doesn't allow such noises. If you want something specific like "breakfast with a quiet view of the gardens", they book a holiday that specifies that.

And sometimes, yes sometimes, we need to eat food in a restaurant too.

Correction: you want to eat food in a restaurant. Nobody actually needs to.

Some parents are so up themselves and think their kids trump everyone else's comfort.
Lord knows how they'll grow up. Probably as entitled as the parents.

Parents often realise they are in a public space and can determine the noise of Peppa Pig is less offensive than an unhappy noisy child.

They can have the best of both worlds if they actually used headphones!

Well actually when staying in a hotel if you want to actually have breakfast which many people do then the restaurant is probably a need rather than a want!

"Today 14:44 WhatToDoAboutThis2017

And sometimes, yes sometimes, we need to eat food in a restaurant too.

Correction: you want to eat food in a restaurant. Nobody actually needs to."

I don't think you've understood the thread. The OP is on holiday. Where else would you eat unless self catering? Sit in your hotel room with pot noddles?

Honestly, you couldn't make up these responses

The OP is on holiday Hester, but I presumed the poster I quoted was talking about restaurants in general.

I personally wouldn't allow electronic devices in a restaurant. It's a sad day when children cant sit still through a meal without constant entertainment. It's selfish to impose the noise on others.

Hester? Where did that come from?! Meant to say "yes"

No judgement on someone who genuinely needs that distraction sirzy. Most who do need it generally have headphones on/in to block out all the other noise so aren't disturbing anyone.

I personally would rather listen to a whinging child than Peppa Pig. Because I can filter out the sound of the child but not Peppa. A child talking/whining or even crying is a natural sound, and the Peppa theme tune isn't.

Like an awful lot of the people posting on this thread who don't like the sound of this stuff out and about (I suspect) I also work full time and appreciate my holidays.

I think those of us who have children who use devices are meant to hide ourselves away so the mere presence of the device doesn't offend others.

They can have the best of both worlds if they actually used headphones! That is one option, and some parents want to occasionally talk to their children, so not wearing ear phones is also a valid option.

This attitude that a dummy is an acceptable 'pacifier' but a ipad is an unacceptable 'pacifier' I wonder if a sharp slap is an acceptable pacifier?. Talk about the Victorian attitude '"children should be seen and not heard", enforced by 'acceptable parents'. I am glad I live in a more enlightened 21st century and not the good old days.

I suppose the next time I see a middle aged man in a restaurant masticating his food with his mouth open I should ask the waiter to tell him I find it offensive and he should stop or I will start a post on MN .

No i meant anytime we go on holiday or have had to stay in a hotel when travelling to see a dying relative. How would an observer know what my reason for eating in restaurant?

Somewhat bemused at the poster who thinks children are going to be smarter because they play with iPads. iPads are convenient and I "get" why people use them (my friend who is a single mum with no family around whatsoever and not enough money for babysitters sometimes had to resort to this, otherwise she would never ever have been able to go out in the evening for an hour or two). But they are not going to make children more intelligent.

I didn't say iPads made them more intelligent. I said they'll be more
Intelligent. Future generations always are unless you're a "GCSEs were so much harder in my day" misery type.

Autofillcontact

I think people whose children are older have just missed the I pad generation tbh. The reason they don't sit and colour in quietly for 3 hours is that their brains are now wired to take in a higher higher level
Of Information than kids pre I pad so get bored far more easily.

It's has advantages and disadvantages. Can't sit still colouring but will be far smarter.

What on EARTH are you basing this on? 'Will be smarter'?? Because they've played Candy Crush or something equally inane for hours??

No. Instead, they will need constant stimualtion. Cannot sit still. Cannot use rtheir imagination. Have to be amused by electronics all the time. Lose the ability to sit down and listen. Never develop the fine motor skills to colour or draw well.

What a load of bollocks. If you have any proof of what you say, let's hear it. There's far more proof of iPads etc damaging children's developing brains than there is of them helping.

No. Because I pads are FULL OF INFORMATION.

Peppa is very educational.

No one has played candy crush since 2011

Peppa is very educational?!

Not sure you've got a proper grasp on what 'smart' actually means...

Not sure you've got a proper grasp on what 'smart' actually means

^ this

I didn't say iPads made them more intelligent. I said they'll be more
Intelligent

Are you on glue?

Of course it is. Do you understand how it's been designed? good quality children's programming is fantastic for development.

Yes I am indeed on glue, naturally. It's commonplace whenever people disagree with you for them to be snarfing glue

I think those of us who have children who use devices are meant to hide ourselves away so the mere presence of the device doesn't offend others.

OTT much