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.

Could we ban "loud people who think they are important having show off conversations" instead?

What? That’s ridiculous to have a blanket ban of all children under 14 in every restaurant.

There are plenty of restaurants which don’t cater for children at night; but we frequently take our two young children (7y and 11m) out in the evening.

That being said they both sit and eat their food, the elder might colour in or play with a small doll, do wordsearches etc, and the younger is happy to play with a (quiet) toy and eat his food.

If they misbehave, they get taken to the car until they can behave again.

Sounds like your kids are a nightmare in restaurants then.

Loud kids? Fine.. it happens. Kids running about when people are carrying food and drink... stupid and fucking dangerous.

Evening time is family time. Granted smaller children would probably be in bed but older children are usually very much part of the evening.

Are you aware of the many countries around the world where children go out for dinner in the evening with their family?

I think you’re being ridiculous.

Adult restaurant?

This debate always goes to the extremes. Like many have said, if you go to Pizza Hut on a Saturday afternoon you’d be unfair to expect ‘ambience’ but at 8pm at a Michelin starred restaurant you’d expect not to hear children. It’s not just about food, these places are an experience that some people look forward to and save for, baby shark and high chairs really aren’t appropriate here. Poo poo it if you want but mocking this enjoyment and indulgence is probably rooted in envy.

Most establishments though are somewhere between these two examples. Parents should be conscious of the potential disruption their children may cause, but others should try to patient within reason. Try not to huff because a child had a cry while you polished off a £12 burger, a parent may well be trying to have a bit of a life and just wanted a bit of lunch for done normality thinking the child would behave.

I don’t like the idea of children’s areas as some children are well behaved and those families deserve better than to have the peace and quite enjoyed by other diners.

the answer I suppose is common sense, patience and consideration, things that seem to be sadly lacking in society these days.

Poo poo it if you want but mocking this enjoyment and indulgence is probably rooted in envy

Or perhaps it’s not the big deal for everyone that some people think it is. That it’s not a once in a blue moon thing to do. It’s something they do regularly.

Im pretty sure they wouldn’t be jealous of you.

This debate always goes to the extremes. Like many have said, if you go to Pizza Hut on a Saturday afternoon you’d be unfair to expect ‘ambience’ but at 8pm at a Michelin starred restaurant you’d expect not to hear children. It’s not just about food, these places are an experience that some people look forward to and save for, baby shark and high chairs really aren’t appropriate here. Poo poo it if you want but mocking this enjoyment and indulgence is probably rooted in envy.

This. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to want an adult/ romantic/sophisticated ambience in certain restaurants. I wouldn’t expect it in a chain restaurant as you say but if it’s one you’d go to for a special occasion I would.

No a restaurant, but my local coffee shop has a “No under 16’s allowed” rule. It is a very popular place.

This x1000!

Yeah. I’d love to know what they mean as well.
We’ve (including DS) have been to tasting menu £££ restaurants, pp description, but we’ve always gone around 5:30-6 so before most adult only groups are likely to be there. The only time we’ve ever had an issue was with another group who’d booked two tables so they could have an adult table and children’s table, no end of noise and low level misbehaviour.
From some of these comments it feels like people just don’t think children should be in these restaurants, which feels more than a little ridiculous.

Good idea also child free flights too. It's incredible how annoying other people's kids are now mine are all grown up. Little brats :)

I think some people really dislike their own children. Other people's children being fine is therefore incomprehensible.

I know parents who have nightmare kids who make really generalised comments about children. Really it's about their children and their inability to see past that.

Well if they do it regularly and it’s no big deal to them they should have a bit more respect for those for whom it is a special occasion. If they think it’s just a poncy waste of money, well don’t go, but the world is a rich tapestry of tastes, priorities and interests.

I think it depends. If I went into a pizza express type place at lunchtime I would expect children to be there. However, I can remember going to a pub on Xmas eve for lunch. Not a particularly child friendly chain type place but a quite expensive gastro type place. We were placed next to a table with four adults and 5 kids under the age of 5 I would say. It was horrendous. One of the dads seemed to be taking charge of the performance parenting and actively encouraging one of the older ones to be really loud and shouting. They were arguing with each (the kids), were obviously overwhelmed and over excited. It just seemed totally inappropriate to me. I am in my 50’s and can remember smoking in pubs before the ban and children were not allowed in pubs.

We asked to move to a quieter location but that coincided with the group leaving. They said ‘they’re just kids, kids are noisy’.

The issue for us is we were all adults, drinking wine, there were no other children in the pub. Would they not have been better to go to a more child friendly joint?

Not sure why this is causing such confusion.

Some restaurants and eateries are clearly more casual and gear themselves towards being child/family friendly, they have child menus, cater for kids birthdays, have half a dozen high chairs out the back, staff experienced with dealing children, possibly a play area in the garden, provide crayons and colouring in paper, have no objections to excitable noisy children etc

Other 'fine dining' restaurants do none of the above, the atmosphere is more elegant and the food is served in a more formal way. There are usually more staff with a higher level of training and expertise. You can expect chefs to have trained in a renowned cookery school or had an apprenticeship at some other high end restaurant. There might possibly be in house sommeliers or other food and drink experts to help you choose. The food will be of the highest quality, prepared on site and made with luxurious ingredients, and served in unique and beautiful presentations. The quality of the dishware and cutlery would be higher, and the décor and even the architecture of the restaurant building could possibly be notable. The prices for fine dining are higher than at a casual restaurant but you are paying extra for the higher quality in food, the ambiance and the highly trained staff and an eating experience built around themes adults are likely to appreciate way more then a three year old.

It's really not that hard. Sure the above three year old might be impeccably well behaved and blend in, but the chances are they will be bored shitless and will need constant engagement and distractions to stop them kicking off which will more then likely affect other diners wanting to fully appreciate a specific dining experience that comes at a cost. You might think that whipping out a screen and putting on 15 back to back episodes of Hey Duggee is fine but don't be surprised if other people in the room are less then enthusiastic listening to Betty the octopus get her cake badge.

I think your whole post proves @RedToothBrush point. When do children learn to like this experiences if they are never exposed to them? It’s about ‘training’ them so they know how to behave.

@DanseAvecLesLoups oh and we were at dinner next to an impeccably well behaved two year old at an ‘adult’ restaurant. She didn’t once have a screen in front of her and her parents happily talked to her and each other.

That's great. Good on them. That's why I don't like hard and fast rules on this. Parents should exercise judgement and consideration. If the child is likely to be well behaved and not need noisy stimulation then crack on. I'd never be offended by the sheer presence of a child even if I were dining at a Gordon Ramsay, I think those that would are just being grumpy.

I think that this is true. I don't think DS would get bored as we have conversations with him and he loves to try the food (ironically he won't at home in the same way which drives us utterly nuts - this is the child who refuses to eat at all at school). He enjoys the experience of a restaurant now and asks to go to them. He's very fond of curry and will happily eat adults under the table (which has caused much amusement especially amongst people who know the stress he causes with food).

He LOVES watching MasterChef and other cookery programmes.

We've had to stop going out as often though, since he learnt to read. He won't go near the childrens menu in the majority of places and always wants the bloody sea bass which is inevitably usually the most expensive thing on the menu.

We've said to him that we will take him somewhere really fancy, but he needs to start eating more veg first. This plan is, so far, not working though.

This is laughable, you 'train' kids at home or down the local 'child friendly' pub or pizza express, not at the Michelin starred ££££ restaurant. Why should other diners have to be exposed to disruptive behaviour if and when said 'training' goes wrong which it invariably will at some point? Plus, why would you even want to take young kids to that kind of environment? Even if well behaved do you really think they would enjoy or appreciate a 15 course tasting menu or similar? It's like taking a five year old to some 3 hour foreign language film just because it is 'U' rated, sure they are allowed but the chances are they could not give a monkeys what is on the screen and would rather be somewhere else as they are bored shitless and restless.

Honestly I think DS would love it in about 18 months to 2 years.

He will still be significantly below the age 14 ban some were suggesting. And the only reason he probably wouldn't enjoy now is because he won't eat veg which many of his peers do.

If he ate them I'd take him now! He's 8. I wouldn't have taken him at 5. This is a kid undergoing assessment for ADHD but can sit still and is fine when focused and engaged.

That's the point. There's a significant number of parents who don't want to have conversations with their kids and don't engage with them. They don't eat at the table as a family - parents cook twice a night. They don't try and explore food by cooking. They don't make it something fun and an experience.

But that's not the case for everyone.

Who knows it could inspire a kid to become a chef. Should we be limiting kids experiences because of the antisocial behaviour of others?

Perhaps the problem lies with the culture of long hours and ready meals and the beige oven tray of doom being the norm in the UK (and not elsewhere in Europe I might add - which does have many of the same social pressures as the UK).

I used to do a lot of travelling for work, usually staying on chains (premiere/travellodge) with attached restaurants. One or two of them set up adult sections for the guests (mostly business travellers) these didn't last as families would just move into the adult area and move the tables around (they were usually simply set up as tables for two). Don't blame the staff for not moving them out, if you pointed out it was an adult area then you got dogs abuse.

I dont think there should be a section. Because I parent my bloody child who sits nicely at the table and talks at a reasonable volume and plays with quiet toys or talks to us. If she didnt I wouldn't take her there.

But yanbu to think the parents of kids allowed to run feral and play tablets without headphones ought to be banished.

they ruin our meals out too and I wouldnt want to be lumped in with them!

Frankly there are child friendly cafes with toys and play sections so people that want to let their kids down to play or expect (quite fairly) for kids to be kids then they ought to go to those places.

I went to a small café one morning a few months ago. There was a toddler who kept throwing things on the floor near to our table. The first couple of times I picked them up and gave them back. Afterwards I just ignored it. I'm not having my meal disturbed constantly to get up and keep having to pick things up for your child. The mother apologised at the end but it just ruined our time there.