To Have Walked Out of Restaurant about Wagyu Beef

[WaguBeef]

DP & I have recently returned from holiday with his DCs.

On the last evening we went out for a meal at a lovely restaurant.

DP & his son (13) both ordered Wagyu beef steaks- 150 gms. The restaurant only had 1 x 150 & 1 x 130 gm steaks left. DP said that’s fine.

When they arrived DSS started crying & shouting it wasn’t fair for DP (he’s 15 stone) to have the bigger steak.
After 5 minutes I got up and left.

DP thinks I should have been more understanding. I said ‘ personally I would have picked up the offending steak & put it in the bin’

OP didn’t “storm off” she got up and left. Two completely different things!

Good for you, Id have walked out too.
Is his father not teaching correct behaviour ?
Crying at 13 yrs old because he didnt get his own way? Unbelievable.

Call it what you will, 'storming off' or not, walking away from a difficult family situation doesn't really help

If the OP isn't able to tell her stepson off and her husband is unwilling to teach the child basic manners and self control, she shouldn't have to sit there and endure a temper tantrum in a public place.

Lethaldrizzle neither does being humiliated by a crap dad and a child who has been pandered to all his life!

The fuck I would have sat there banned from saying “that’s enough”.

Only difference is I’d have kept walking and not looked back!!

It’s awful behaviour, I’d have wanted to walk out too but it ends up making you look like the bad guy iyswim? It’s the hardest thing to be a step parent as you can’t win whatever you do, I am at least lucky my DP are adults but even then you have to be on your guard to not put your foot in it

DameDoom What a lovely bunch of kids

OP were there any other children of a similar age dining? What was their reaction?
Excluding SN, it is highly unusual that a 13 year old would be crying and shouting in a restaurant like that.
Do you know what he is like at school?

Walking off is very different to storming off.

If this had happened to me, I would have paid for drinks (if we'd had them) and left. The tantrum king child would have had a bollocking and I'd find another food source.

I wouldn't want to ruin the experience for other diners by bollocking tantrumming child then having them sit with a face on while others ate. It's one thing to vocalize disappointment and plead for the bigger bit but tantrum?

By walking off she could find somewhere to enjoy her food and didn't have to witness her partner pander to his giant baby.

rainingcatsanddog and YeTalkShiteHen they were a great bunch.
In fact, in my many years of teaching, the vast majority of children, from all different backgrounds, are completely fab. They all have their moments mind, but generally, the kindness, gratitude and empathy they show is completely joyous.

DameDoom it’s nice to hear that!

By God a 13year oldenining about a steak needs to be taught a lesson like wait outside sonny boy and stop throwing a strop in public over 20gms of steak.
OP his father needs to put the entitled brat in his place !

• 13 year old whining

He needs to do something otherwise that boy will be a nightmare to live with and in the workplace. That reaction was not normal and I’d have been mortified if a 5 year old had carried on like that let alone a teenager.

Disney Dad?

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter

Disney Dad - ineffective twat with a daft grin who never says no to his children but won’t actually parent. (I’m paraphrasing obviously )

I am now going to adopt the phrase Disney Dad - it succinctly sums up that type of parent.

No excuse for the teen to be behaving like that and I'd have probably done as you did, OP.

However, if it's your DH who is 15 stone then it's definitely the 13yo son who needs the bigger bit. They are ravenous all the time at 13 and growing.

I agree this dad hasn't done his son any favours. This behaviour needs to be checked.

Sounds like a child who is all too accustomed to arbitrary unfairness. They both went into the scenario believing they could choose 150g.
When something prevented that expectation from being met the automatic assumption was that his father would come first.

My childhood was like this, particularly around food.

Yes even now I would feel a heightened sense of unfairness if me and my friend both ordered the same steak but it was decided she’d get the bigger one. Why? Because she’s older? Taller? Weighs more?

Children don’t comprehend that the reason Dad gets more is that (apparently) he needs more. They see that they are getting less and believe that they must be worth or deserving of less.

Dad gets more because presumably he’s footing the bill?

I would argue a growing 13 needs more but that's besides the point here. This 13 is going to find his behaviour is less and less acceptable the older he gets and is going to find adulthood very difficult.

Nobody “needs” more wagyu steak. Nobody “needs” wagyu steak.

Presumably though, the other diners needed or at the very least wanted, not to have to listen to an over indulged teenager having a very noisy public strop.

I don't know how the holiday went but a new family set up (new step mum with different rules) is one if the most stressful things any child can go through. Perhaps it was hangry tears at the end of a really stressful week when the 13 year old realised all the old hierarchies have changed and he is now the least important person in his dads life.
Whatever it was I think you were wrong to walk out the restaurant but you should have modelled calm, reasonable behaviour to this obviously confused young boy.