Child only area in restaurant- discriminatory?

[Buyalot]

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?

It’s much harder to move someone when they are settled and eating! What if they refuse?

Which is fine if places don’t have that policy. It doesn’t make those that do wrong though.

People can make their own choice if they stay or not.

Absolutely insane!

Oh good lord! That is bonkers. Did she hate everyone in rhe restaurant for some reason 😂? Maybe a disgruntled customer from a previous visit...

And if you have a well behaved child who knows how to eat properly at a table you are still punished by being made to sit with everyone else's screaming brats running around??

Doesn't seem to happen in most countries, wonder why theuk

People need to be more prepared to challenge bad behaviour by children and shame their parents into removing them from the premises.

I'd have asked them to keep the noise down. There's no excuse for spoiling others' experiences and even encouraging the racket by buying them whistles. Take them to Alton Towers if you want to let them run riot.

Of course it's not bloody discriminatory FFS.

No it's respecting those people that deserve the right to have a meal away from other people's kids! Times have changed and many more people are choosing not to have kids and don't want to eat surrounded by other peoples kids.

A 14 month old kid can start crying at the drop of a hat.

We were disciplined at that and certainly as an 80s kid parents weren't dragging us on planes from within months of being born. People try to live like they haven't got a baby or toddler now.

Also parenting was different. I spend my first 10 years(70-80's) travelling back and fourth with my parents and 3 brothers but they just wouldn't have put up with any nonsense. But they were the sort of parents who would bring us in from the garden if we were making too much noise, out of resect for neighbours. That kind of parenting is a bit rarer and certainly not the norm.

Yes this. I rang a carvery to book once and got told we would have to sit in the children’s area. I felt the same as you plus it was for a meaL with my very poorly parent who also had a hearing problem. I said no thanks and went elsewhere.

But it's not just a 14 month old Would be most kids under 12.

And take kid out if it cries. I removed a 3 month old from a " family" restaurant because he cried and I didn't want to disturb others

Sounds like a brilliant idea to me if it means I don’t have to put up with badly behaved children when I go out to eat.

Am sorry, not all parents take their crying baby outside. Not all parents stop their children running around and screaming either. See other post here about mum giving children a whistle while in a restaurant!

Let's face it, if parents were more considerate like they were in the old days (not saying all parents are bad), then perhaps this wouldn't even be an issue and no childrens area needed.

A beautifully behaved 14 month old sitting behind you can also fill their nappy with enormous amounts of poo just as you are sitting down to enjoy your meal…

There are plenty of places to eat out, I have 2 (now older) DC myself but think this is a great choice to have.

The business has to cater for their local demographic or go out of business - that is what they appear to be doing, so good luck to them.

Where am I saying about 14 month old? Kids that are well behaved at can eat properly at tables are generally older and toilet trained

And it's not a choice of you are forced to sit amongst other people's feral kids

So punish the decent parents due to the scumbags?

We all know that less and less people are having kids because society doesn't make people conform to having kids they don't really want like it used to! When you've got more child free people about you have to expect to businesses to want to treat those people equally!
My partner and I went into the beer garden of a local pub in summer that has play equipment in it, the screeching was awful! Constant screeching and screaming and zombie parents sat there doing nothing! That's another reason that forces places to do this because screaming non stop drives other customers away! I would be wary of going to that beer garden again!

Also for those mothers that demand their right to sit with with boobs fully out to breast feed because they hate covering up, you get your own area to do that without forcing awkwardness on everyone. A separate parent and child area is win win

It’s not a punishment. It’s the business model of this pub which, as the family area was busy when OP arrived, has clearly found it works well for them. Parents who don’t want to sit in the family area are free to choose to go elsewhere, the same as anyone else might choose to go elsewhere if something didn’t suit them.

These were a godsend when my lot were small, it meant not having to worry about shitty looks off child free tables if one of them so much as whinged.

I wouldn't like this either as you can imagine the kids in the soft play will be feral. Also the whole idea of a soft play at a pub/restaurant doesn't seem right to me. Surely they shouldn't be hurtling round that when out for a meal? Definitely not the kind of place I would want to go. I think part of going out for a meal with kids is to ensure they have good manners/behaviour and are able to sit at the table for the meal duration.

A pub local to us will only allow children in the restaurant side, no dogs allowed in the pub at all, no phones or tablets either or gaming machines. It does have a fantastic pub garden where there are no restrictions. It is always heaving and very popular as the food is wonderful.

Glad I tended not to go in places like that when my kids were young. Obviously made a mistake with my newborn but never went in that pub since ( used the other one in the village instead for 20 plus years)

I could take my kids out for dinner regularly in spain and they were able to behave and eat properly without being relegates to a kids area .