As today was a lovely sunny day me and DP went to have lunch in a pub and sat in the small beer garden.
The pub was busy and we were sat next to a couple with 3 children, two girls around 4 and 6 and a boy of around 8/9.
The parents were chatting and the kids were running around the tables, shouting and fighting with each other and at one point picking flowers until they were asked to stop. The staff came over in the end and asked the parents to try to keep them sat at the table because staff were bringing food out.
We were just trying to ignore them, there was another table to move to but we decided to wait until our food arrived first as staff knew where we were sitting.
The kids started coming to our table when their parents still weren’t interacting with them after they had been told to stay by their own table, we had a quick conversation but then said they needed to go to their own table as we were going to have our lunch. The eldest girl said that they would just sit and share with us because their parents wouldn’t mind. We were trying to be polite but at that point I just said we wanted to sit by ourselves.
When our food came out the kids all came flocking back over to the table and I knew we weren’t going to get any peace so I said to the staff we wanted to move, they were completely understanding and it was obvious why. We moved to a different table and more people arrived and sat where we had been sitting, the children carried on hanging around them instead.
It was a bit annoying but I didn’t think it was a big issue and wouldn’t have thought anything of it but as the family were leaving the dad came over and told us it was incredibly rude how we’d behaved by being rude to his children and then pointedly asking to move. He said the kids had been trying to make friends with us and had been made to feel like a nuisance.
DP said they were his children and it wasn’t our job to entertain them, I was worried it was going to get heated but his wife came and pulled him away, she mouthed “sorry” as they left.
I don’t really think I am BU but at the same time DP said afterwards he felt a bit guilty in case we had genuinely upset the kids and it wasn’t their fault they were being ignored by their parents.
I think it wasn’t our job and I wasn’t spending my afternoon babysitting someone else’s kids because they couldn’t be arsed!