What's the big deal about letting kids watch a couple of videos during a meal out ?

[kittensss]

I've noticed it is SUPER frowned upon here.

What's the big deal if you want to have a longer dinner and keep your kids happy and entertained ?

My kids are good to sit and colour and talk and eat for the first 30 minutes to an hour, but if we want to stay longer than that, they get bored.. fair enough. What's the big deal about letting them watch some stuff on our phones of iPads ?

I know of no one in real life who is as judgy as the parents on here.

We went for a big family lunch recently, the adults wanted to enjoy it a bit longer and out came the phones for the preschoolers to look at for half an hour or so. We were able to enjoy our lunch and took them to the playground after. No harm done.

Or would you rather our entitled ' brats ' ruined your pub lunch ?

I don't get the problem which seems to be coming up here time and time again on so many threads. Do you assume we don't talk to our kids because we let them watch the iPad for a bit during lunch ?

I think most people have said the Paw Patrol is muted unlike the annoying adults next to you.

We have a guy at work who tries to impress everyone with his stories. I'd rather listen to a child than listen to him on a date. Adults can be so boring.

I don't want to listen to ANYONES ipad, phone, video in a restaurant.
HTH

I don't mind listening to kids, I mind listening to their devices

We are out at lots of lovely places when I was growing up. I didn't ever get threatened with violence by my parents and I was certainly never scared of them.
I don't really care how other people entertain their children at lunch. However, headphone are always a must. Listening to a phone 'quietly' is very subjective.

I can think of several hundred people to whom I would rather listen to less than I would Paw Patrol at full volume.

I really struggle with phones on quietly - I hate if I can sort of hear something - please can you use headphones or silent?

Same. I can tune out other people's conversations, but I can't tune out music/radio/TV at all. If it is on low volume, my brain tries to listen to it. Is so annoying.

No ! I just wanted to hear the points of view and see whether there was any understanding for our position or if it was just completely opposing views.

Your position?! 🤣 It’s a grubby meal at Nando’s, made worse by crotch goblins blaring out Paw Petrol from iPads, hardly an important court case.

I wonder if any of these people who talk about parenting before screens have a phone or use a screen themselves sometimes. Yes it’s possible to parent without a screen and yes it happened in years gone by, but if it makes life a bit easier every now and again I don’t see the issue. Lots of things have been invented in recent years which makes life easier, I bet you don’t refuse to use them just because you managed ok before.

Well I can tune out music/radio/TV, but not other people's conversations, therefore no one should speak in my presence as it's inconsiderate.

<eyeroll>

True 🤣

@Livingoncaffeine personally I don't have an issue with screens either on silent or using headphones. I do have an issue with screens that you can hear - even if it's quietly. I find that really intrusive, my brain can't tune it out and it's ruinous to my experience. And personally, I find that rude.

So the OP with the screens on quietly would have ruined my meal out. And I don't think that's fair.

That must be very difficult for you.

I am sorry.

Has the word 'toleration ' been dropped from the OCD nowadays?

That sounds really miserable, and difficult to live with.

I was being facetious, in case that wasn't obvious.

Might be easier to stay home

BTW my child doesn't watch screens in restaurants. He reads books. So therefore is acceptably visible.

We wouldn't have ruined your meal because we were sitting so far away from other diners in a completely different section, on our own in a corner. You would not have been able to hear anything because of the distance and background noise.

Everyone can chill out about this. We get it, background noise from iPads or iPhones is unacceptable. It's been said SO many times on this thread. We tend to use headphones anyway. On this particular day I don't even remember if my friends kids screens were completely muted or on low volume. I don't remember hearing anything coming from them, so probably muted. I know we didn't bother anyone except for when we left and one of the children had a tantrum.

Acceptably quiet, ta

slow clap

My kids are too young to read

Kittenes, how would you know if anyone was bothered?

I think this is an area where etiquette is evolving.

We have to accept other people talking when we go to a restaurant.

It isn't acceptable to allow kids to run riot around the place and bash into waiters and other diners, or shout and yell loudly. The expectation is that even children will behave in a particular manner.

For tech, it's new so people like me aren't always on the same page as younger people about what's socially ok. for me, as I said, absolutely no problem with screens, but I do expect them to be silent. I wouldn't have brought a portable DVD player (remember those?!) and let my kids watch that without headphones at a family dinner, what's different about a phone or tablet?

It just wasn't possible as it was too far. There was a short portion of the meal where an elderly couple was a bit closer and they said how lovely everyone was and how they'd been there with their grandkids the day before etc.

But of course you can make ALL the usual assumptions you like about us... mumsnet style.