Page 13 | Child only area in restaurant- discriminatory?

Buyalot · 2025-10-12T13:28:44+00:00

I’ve returned from a carvery lunch with DH and DD (14 months). On arrival, despite there being a lot of seats spare in every area, we were told we had to be seated in the dedicated children’s area - an absolute racket with soft play etc. AIBU to find this ridiculous?

XenoBitch · 13/10/2025 22:42

OonaStubbs · 13/10/2025 22:36

Farting should be banned in restaurants as should babies. And dogs. Let people eat in peace.

LOL you can't ban processes of the digestive system.

Topseyt123 · 14/10/2025 03:30

OonaStubbs · 13/10/2025 22:36

Farting should be banned in restaurants as should babies. And dogs. Let people eat in peace.

What's wrong with a good, satisfying fart in a restaurant? 😃🤣

It is after all the by-product of eating food there. 😉🤣

RubySquid · 14/10/2025 03:44

XenoBitch · 13/10/2025 22:42

it is not discriminatory
If there is a play area then kids will want to play in it. It makes sense that their parents are near by so the kids are not running about the whole establishment. If it is a carvery, then there will be fellow patrons walking about with plates of hot food and not a handful of waiting staff.

And do newborns also want to play in it?

And what about the parents who want their kids to sit nicely at table. It's not helped if other kidsare running back and forth to play area

RubySquid · 14/10/2025 03:47

Cherrytree86 · 13/10/2025 19:49

@RubySquid

i would be proper disgusted and lose my appetite if I could smell either a shitty nappy OR a fart. Wouldn’t you?

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No I can't say I would. Someone farting is unlikely to make me waste £20 on a meal losing my appetite. The smell passes in seconds. You must be overly delicate

InterestedDad37 · 14/10/2025 04:12

It's an issue with British society, which in these settings treats mealtime and playtime as part of the same thing. In which case, it makes a lot of sense.
If mealtime was mealtime, and playtime was playtime, then it wouldn't be necessary, and such places would be a lot calmer and more civilised 😂

cariadlet · 14/10/2025 04:51

I understand both sides.

We ate out with dd from when she was a baby, mainly because of going on holiday with her.
We always took sticker books etc and talked to her. She could sit quietly at the table and didn't disturb anyone.
I would have hated to have been in a noisy children's area and wouldn't have stayed if that's where I had been asked to sit.

At the same time, there are many parents go out to eat and don't bother to parent their children.
Some parent allow their children to be noisy and even run around.
Because of families like these, I can understand why the restaurant has a designated area so that noisy children don't disturb child free diners.

It does seem a shame for families with quiet, well behaved children to have to sit near a rowdy soft play area but those families will either have to suck it up or to find somewhere else to eat.

Ohtheplaces · 14/10/2025 08:46

InterestedDad37 · 14/10/2025 04:12

It's an issue with British society, which in these settings treats mealtime and playtime as part of the same thing. In which case, it makes a lot of sense.
If mealtime was mealtime, and playtime was playtime, then it wouldn't be necessary, and such places would be a lot calmer and more civilised 😂

For me the issue is that the restaurant has created the meal time/playtime confusion by installing a play area and then insisting all families sit there.

When I encountered this, I voted with my feet. I don’t want my child or anyone else’s running around during a meal. The presence of a play area right in the dining area plus other kids racing around presents this as a normal standard of behaviour.

Family meals can involve multiple adults and one child. No way do those adults want to sit in a play area. I ended up not booking a family meal at a place like this as one member of the party had terminal cancer and was in poor health and a kid bashing into him would have really hurt him, plus he had a hearing problem so any conversation would have been hard. Sitting in a family area without the play area would have been acceptable. It’s the play area being the only family area that is the issue. It’s real lowest common denominator stuff.

CrazyGoatLady · 14/10/2025 14:36

Ohtheplaces · 14/10/2025 08:46

For me the issue is that the restaurant has created the meal time/playtime confusion by installing a play area and then insisting all families sit there.

When I encountered this, I voted with my feet. I don’t want my child or anyone else’s running around during a meal. The presence of a play area right in the dining area plus other kids racing around presents this as a normal standard of behaviour.

Family meals can involve multiple adults and one child. No way do those adults want to sit in a play area. I ended up not booking a family meal at a place like this as one member of the party had terminal cancer and was in poor health and a kid bashing into him would have really hurt him, plus he had a hearing problem so any conversation would have been hard. Sitting in a family area without the play area would have been acceptable. It’s the play area being the only family area that is the issue. It’s real lowest common denominator stuff.

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I tend to agree, and wouldn't have chosen this type of place myself when DC were bairns. DC are autistic and wouldn't have coped with the noise and chaos. The thing is though, I also wouldn't have expected the business to change its policy for my family. If you have SEN kids, or equally adult family members with particular needs, you get used to planning ahead, researching the places you could go, and reading the small print. OP seems to think her family should be the exception. It's legit not to want to be seated in a children's play area and go elsewhere, but not to demand that a business bends the rules or that you and your family are somehow better than other families and therefore deserve to be the exception.

The market is what it is - there will be places that mix dining and creche, and places that don't. For everyone who is like us and can't bear the sound of shrieking kids in a ball pit or the challenges of trying to get your own kids to eat at least a bit of a meal before entering Bedlam with the others, there are plenty that will be quite content with it!

Wrenjay · 15/10/2025 16:31

InterestedDad37 · 14/10/2025 04:12

It's an issue with British society, which in these settings treats mealtime and playtime as part of the same thing. In which case, it makes a lot of sense.
If mealtime was mealtime, and playtime was playtime, then it wouldn't be necessary, and such places would be a lot calmer and more civilised 😂

Children in Europe generally eat out with parents and wider family at weekends AND SIT AT THE TABLE conversing with the adults and other children. They talk, laugh and eat and do not run around. There is something wrong in our society that accepts running around restaurants and making lots of noise.

InterestedDad37 · 15/10/2025 16:48

Wrenjay · 15/10/2025 16:31

Children in Europe generally eat out with parents and wider family at weekends AND SIT AT THE TABLE conversing with the adults and other children. They talk, laugh and eat and do not run around. There is something wrong in our society that accepts running around restaurants and making lots of noise.

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Yeah, I know, spent a lot of time living in Europe when I was younger ... it's rather more civilised

musicismath · 15/10/2025 17:42

Wrenjay · 15/10/2025 16:31

Children in Europe generally eat out with parents and wider family at weekends AND SIT AT THE TABLE conversing with the adults and other children. They talk, laugh and eat and do not run around. There is something wrong in our society that accepts running around restaurants and making lots of noise.

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Absolutely. The amount of 'they're kids, what can you do?' I've heard over the years, like it's physically impossible to get children to behave well. It really isn't.