Restaurants should have a child free section

[Hdaniels11]

I keener old smoking/non smoking sections at restaurants. They should do the same thing with children/no children sections. I was at a testy with a few friends last night and the table next to mine had two screaming children. Another table had their 4 maybe 5 year old son stun up and down the aisle nearly knocking over the waitress with a tray full of drinks. We asked to move because it was just too noisy and disturbing, after that we had no more distractions and were actually able to converse with one another.

A lot of that reminds me of my sister, her husband believes in being the kids "friend" rather than the parent and says things like "boys will be boys" and "they are just getting their energy out" i just roll my eyes when he says that. NO it's a restaurant not a playground.

As a parent myself i actually think it's a good idea from the other side. It's embarrassing to have your child screaming and acting a fool in public, Around other parents you would at least get a little more empathy.

Me too

I agree. We're usually eating later in the evening or at places that people don't really think of as a family restaurant, but if we go out for Sunday lunch or an early evening meal straight from work, or to a place where people know their kids will be accommodated, we've definitely experienced some very disruptive behaviour from people's kids at times - running round, running in and out every two minutes and slamming the door each time to the outdoor area every time, watching videos or playing games with no headphones on an iPad, spitting out mouthfuls of food they didn't like, crawling under the tables, sitting on the floor in everyone's way, etc. It can definitely ruin a meal for other people. I find it usually happens when there's a mix of families meeting up for a special occasion and the kids are all over-excited and want to play together and the adults are all too busy chatting and drinking to pay any attention to them. I don't think I see bad behaviour that often from kids who are just out for a family meal with their parents.

Equally, I've seen plenty of children behaving really beautifully in restaurants, quietly sitting there with a toy or a book or a silent game, or doing some colouring in for the duration of the meal. I know it's hard for small kids to sit still for all that time and that a restaurant isn't the most interesting place for them, so I'm always really impressed by the kids who can manage it and by the parents who keep them entertained and involved.

What a weird post. Did you really think 2 year olds go to school? If you can’t stand to be near children go to a restaurant that doesn’t serve children.
You even admit the children were well behaved so what is the problem?

Thankfully in our town if you do encounter families they have well behaved children. The restaurants are pretty pricey near me which might explain the lack of younger guests

Agreed. Seems to be one of those "only on MN" things.

Great idea , I eat out fairly regularly and often find other peoples children affect my enjoyment of a meal .

I’m surprised that so many places have such lax licensing requirements. My ex ran a pub that served food and the application for a premises licence (everywhere that serves booze has to have one), we had to state what time kids would no longer be permitted. In that case 8pm.

No one seems to take any notice now. I have regularly seen kids allowed to be at the bar and to play on the fruit machines.

I’m sure some Mumsnetters just pluck anything out of the air to moan about when they’re bored.

But you can expect them to be taken out until they calm down

Can’t decide about this one!

I have two children who, on the whole, have always been very well behaved and I firmly believe that this is because we’ve always put in place really good routines and boundaries. They have also had consequences if they’ve misbehaved. However, I also have realistic expectations too. And children are children - they will naturally be louder than adults and they don’t have the same attention span as adults. Developmentally, most young children will struggle to sit quietly through a three course meal. The problems generally come when parents have expectations that are too high. And when they expect their children to cope with very little stimulation.

I would never stay at a restaurant if they were screaming or having a tantrum as I would be very aware of the impact on other people around us. Therefore - there shouldn’t be a need for separate areas for children specifically - there could easily be a loud table - a large group for example
making lots of noise, and on arrival people can ask to be seated in a quieter area.

In a restaurant I would always take extra snacks, little toys etc to occupy my kids. As babies my kids would end up on an adults knee.

After being embarrassed a few times in my 20s when eating out with people who's kids ran wild in posh gastropubs (literally 4/5 kids running in circles around the tables laughing and whooping, lots of glares from other customers), I was very keen to make my own kids well behaved in restaurants. Turns out it wasn't that hard but you do have to forego all the adult only chit-chit and keep them engaged and involved. It now annoys me intensely on the very few occasions I've been able to go out to dinner without them if there's another kid making a nuisance of themselves and their parents don't give a shit. I couldn't care less if they have a tablet so long as the volume isn't loud, or if a toddler is a bit on the noisy side while enjoying dinenr with its parents, its the running around and the trying to engage with other customers who don't want it that really grates.

I wouldn't want a kids section because I wouldn't want to be forced to sit it in with other people's children going wild when mine have to sit nicely and behave.

What would be fab (but probably not doable) is if restaurants could easily kick out patrons who were taking the piss and annoying other customers - be that kids, drunks, or extra loud people! Maybe the kids section could exist, and you can opt out of it if your kids still nice and quietly, but if your kids cause any fuss you have to agree to move into it.

It’s normally the adults accompanying the noisy kids I find more irritating
last time I was out it was
Alex sit down /Alex sit up /eat Alex /be quiet Alex / leave that Alex
For two hours Felt quite sorry for Alex by the end of his meal

we weren’t the only ones eye rolling at Alex’s parents

Our 3 year old son isn't perfectly behaved. He fidgets and squirms in his seat and tries to play with the condiment bottles. The other morning he kept trying to go under the table to get something from the buggy's shopping carrier.

He doesn't, however, scream and shout, run around, harass other diners or smash things.

I've always instilled the 'no shouting because nobody else is shouting' thing and it's worked.

I agree. Nothing worse than other people's children, especially when you've aligned the stars with regards to childcare to get a date night.

No don't be silly. We have one child, he has honestly never caused a problem eating out, I'm not sitting in some kind of hellish kiddie section.

No kids after 8 PM is a good idea though.

Agree that the biggest noise-makers are drunks! I can't think of a meal ruined by kids, definitely some ruined by drunks.

You can’t just ban people because some people think they are annoying.😂 Just imagine who would be banned in all sorts of areas of life! There would be no dog walkers allowed in parks or footpaths, no cyclists or cars allowed on roads, no school groups allowed anywhere, no men allowed in pubs….

I hate it when parents let their kids run around a restaurant. My two know it’s firmly bum in seats unless they need the toilet.

Noise can’t be helped with smaller children, but if they are throwing a tantrum, or there’s excessive crying, one of the adults should take them out to calm them down.

Tablets and phones must have headphones

Not a child-free section, but a total ban in proper restaurants.
Kids welcome in the cheap & cheerful chains.
All kids under, say 12, out by 19.00.

@ElephantInTheKitchen *I'd have thought that Friday lunchtime in termtime in a tiny, moderately fancy restaurant with no children's menu wouldn't have featured children, but after we sat down to celebrate a birthday last week a family with two children who looked about 2 and 5 were seated next to us.

Thankfully those children were well behaved but had they not been they would have ruined a celebratory lunch for us.

We went to a smart restaurant during school hours... when exactly would you suggest we went to avoid children? That restaurant shuts at 9pm so going excessively late wouldn't have been an option either.*

So actually a more likely scenario is that the 5 year old was 4 and not in school yet. So term time or not is irrelevant.

It seems like you are just pissed of that children exist in the same space as you. They didn’t cause a fuss and still you’re obsessing over the possibility that they may have done something to ruin your meal 🙄

No, I think we should be more willing to tackle such behaviour, and call out lazy or inadequate parenting. If a child's behaviour when young is challenged and tackled, it will pay dividends later on.

You are helping the parent(s) by objecting to such behaviour. You are unlikely to see them again, another family will benefit.

Restaurants should also be more supportive of their staff if they challenge such behaviour.

Only if that ban includes loud talking and/or drunk adults.

And what constitutes a “proper” restaurant?

Kids rarely bother me but please can we have separate sections for:

• Big-bellied big-lunged men who can only talk at the top of their voice and can be heard at every table as if they’re right next to you, and
• Drunk twenty-somethings making crap sexual jokes and doing crap flirting loudly.

I’ve been near a family where the kids were relatively fine but one fathers performance parenting was so loud the whole area were a bit 🤔 child had taken socks off and he’s like no one wants to smell your stinky trotters sally At volume and it went on and on his was the only voice we could hear was awful, I mean people are eating. Never been so happy to see people leave, 2 couples kids and grandparents.

then another little boy recently family had eaten and he kept getting down to run around and talk at the top of his voice 4/5 perhaps but egged on by parents and friends/aunt? Not sure who. He nearly took out a waitress with hot meals. He had nothing to keep him occupied just adults drinking after a meal. I mean there is is a level of behaviour you expect from children but you also expect parents to not allow them to shout and run about disturbing others. I would sit in kid free areas in a heartbeat. I have my own but if I’m out I don’t want to be disturbed by other peoples and not saying I don’t like kids I work with them and have 4 of my own but they behave or we leave it’s that simple.

Me neither.

How about a total ban on child-haters, not just in restaurants, just in general
🙄