Tablets in restaurants with the sound up

[Reallyareyoukiddingme]

Help me understand please….
How selfish and lazy must you be to think it’s ok to come into a nice restaurant, sit and park your child in front of a tablet then put the sound up to max so everyone has to sit through the horror of Vampirina/Tinkerbell/some other Disney plus horror.
I am now kicking myself I didn’t say anything but was with my children (who were all happy with the restaurant provided colouring and actually talking to us) and didn’t want a fight.
I just can’t imagine how anyone can justify that kind of behaviour though? iPads I get, if you really need to use them. But seriously…..headphones?!

Not unreasonable at all! Allowing your children to disturb everyone around them with noisy tech is incredibly rude.

Doing it yourself when you're old enough to know better makes you an inconsiderate cunt.

Hmm interesting re talking to the staff. When I waitressed I was a teenager and the idea of confronting an adult with something that (let’s face it) could only be taken as a criticism of their behaviour and their parenting would have petrified me. But older staff with more experience would probably deal with it much better.

Totally agree its not a staff job. And if the parents are that emotionally unintelligent they're unlikely to respond positively.

See also all forms of public transport! The family in front of us was watching Matilda on the plane the other week. I was actually surprised the cabin crew didn't say anything- wasn't even a toddler who you'd do anything to keep quiet, youngest child was about 9 or 10!

I think you misunderstood the PP.

The dick part had nothing to do with the volume of the tablet.

I didn't misunderstand anything.

There's nothing wrong with any of her OP.

@TheClawDecides def just you with a problem here 😅 Cannot imagine anyone else disagreeing with OP!

If parents done parenting they wouldnt need a screen to do the job for them.

Blimey, where do you think I've disagreed with the OP?

I hate loud tablets spoiling my enjoyment of a restaurant, which is why I have on occasion asked the waiting staff to have a word.

Job done, no drama 🤷‍♂️

My kids when they were small were happy with colouring and sitting chatting to us also 🤷‍♀️

They didn't have iPads till they were at least ten anyway and they certainly weren't, and aren't, allowed to take them with them when we go out to dinner

I don't think it makes me a dick and I don't think it makes op a dick either . I would say it just makes us good parents who aren't lazy.

Why are iPads lazy but not colouring? They do the same thing by keeping children occupied when out to dinner.

Because it's crass and very bad manners?!

Do people not teach manners at home anymore?!

@SouthLondonMum22 colouring in is better for fine motor skills and development, better for concentration and loads of other things.A kid on an iPad in a restaurant can 'zone out', it is lazy parenting imo. Surely you can see they're not the same thing.

We went out for dinner with friends last month. Our DDs are both nearly 5. Ours was really happy doing some colouring. Then the other family turned up and had brought a huge iPad with them. No effort was made to limit use - it was put on straight away and I had to ask them to turn it down. My DD obviously stopped colouring and turned into a screen-zombie for the rest of the evening. They know we have to heavily restrict screen time for our DD because it impacts her behaviour. It was really fucking annoying and I wish I’d just asked them to put it away. I do understand they have their place (ALWAYS sound off or with headphones) but to just plonk it straight down in front of your kid, with no attempt to get them to talk, colour, etc, at a family get together is just ridiculous.

OP doesn’t sound like a dick at all.

kids on iPads is unnecessary. It’s not comparable to colouring in.

The smaller the screen, the smaller their world becomes.

I wish restaurants didn’t allow it. What is going to happen with the next generation when kids can’t be at a restaurant/ sit on a bus/ be pushed in a pram without a tablet.

I don't think it makes me a dick and I don't think it makes op a dick either . I would say it just makes us good parents who aren't lazy.

Are you saying parents who allow tablets in restaurants (even with the volume off) are no good parents and are lazy?

Because if so, that sounds a bit dickish too.

@SouthLondonMum22

My 5 year old normally gets us involved with colouring. He'll ask us to do it with him or get us to look for the right colour crayon. He's still very much present and part of the conversation.

If he had a tablet, I reckon he'd just zone out completely.

I agree that it’s bad manners to have it playing full blast but on silent or with headphones? I don’t see the issue.

Whether silent or with headphones, whats the point taking kids to a restaurant if they're just there to zone out and look at a screen like a zombie. Screens have no place round a dinner table, simple as.

YANBU at all, but there's so much lazy parenting and poor manners now that none of it surprises me.

If I'm close enough I'll ask them to be considerate or call the staff to attend to it.

Poor behaviour.

It will be child dependent. Some will be just as likely to completely engage themselves with colouring.

Others will be just as likely to engage with conversation about their game on the iPad.

Some children also enjoy colouring more than other children.

@SouthLondonMum22

How exactly does a child wearing headphones engage in the general conversation?

My son doesn't actually like colouring that much but if he's given a colouring sheet and crayons, he'll have a go at it.

Because not all children act like that with iPads. It’s also very possible for them to have it whilst waiting for dinner and then put it away and chat when dinner arrives.

Actually, you are right.

I was in a pub garden recently, and the group on the table next to us sat a baby on the floor... baby was just about old enough to sit up by itself... and it was transfixed to an iPhone that was on the floor infront of it... all whilst the adults in the party just chatted and ignored them.

I hate seeing children in zombie mode in front of screens in restaurants. Or even worse in pushchairs. I’m lucky i guess I never had to do that with mine. I take toys, colouring, books, quiet games and engage them in conversation. Or don’t take them at all. The idea of a restaurant with all the kids plugged into screens is like something out of 1984 and really unpleasant to me. I’d rather not eat out at all.