To tell off kids in the pub

[ReallyFkReally]

Out for drinks in our local, lots of kids around due to fireworks which didn’t make it especially chilled but one particular group sitting there playing on iPads which was quite annoying so I asked them to turn it down/use headphones. Cue massive over reaction from parents saying they’re quite within their rights, we upset the kids etc etc.

AIBU to think that after 8pm on a Friday night in a pub is adult time and if you’ve got kids there you look out for them not leave an iPad as a babysitter

In my experience, parents are all in favour of the village when it means more money in their pockets, or free babysitting or other perks, but they expect the villagers to keep THEIR opinions and preferences to themselves. 🙄

I have no problem with kids in pubs, just ones on noisy screens

In that case I think it’s shit that kids are there. I got dragged up in pubs my whole childhood. A truly miserable existence waiting for parents to drink up. Unless it’s a family friendly spoons type thing, it’s crap!

I’m just throw another possibility here which I’ll no doubt get shot down in flames for it nobody knows other peoples lives.
my son is autistic and relies on a screen often in public because he feels it hard to engage sometimes, but all the time but sometimes. It’s also only in the last year that he’s been able to tolerate headphones despite spending hundreds on trying every conceivable type under the sun, so previously he would be using his iPad without headphones.
I’m aware this isn’t ideal for other people and would try to ensure it was on at a lower volume than he would have liked. I’d also say it’s extremely rare that my husband and I get to go out together be that as a family or on our own because we can’t leave our son.
You have no idea whether that night out is the parents only opportunity in a year and yet they’re being brandished as parents that are disinterested in their kids and likely do this every week because they’re selfish.
I think sometimes we’re quick to judge without knowing the backstory.

You can buy hats with built in headphones

If it's their only night out in a year, then even more time to plan accordingly and bring headphones

I think it’s safe to say that if that was the case they would have been quick to tell me, they weren’t the sort to miss such an opportunity.

It might be a rare opportunity or special day for some of the other patrons, too.

Sorry, no doubt it’s difficult, but playing any device audibly in public for any reason is inconsiderate.

I get this annoying. Your opinions and the rules of the pub are different things. If they’re allowed in there a you don’t like it then find a new pub. It’s not that different to people talking loudly really.

It really is. The human ear finds artificial noises much harder to tune out so tinny noise from an iPad will be really invasive.

Headphones should always be used in public places be that parks, trains or restaurants.

“Headphones should always be used”…In your opinion, which is my point. If the pub allows it the it’s up to them.

I agree, Last night we were in a restaurant and there was one large table in the middle of the room which a couple of children belonged to. We were at a table with a banquette along the wall.

The children wandered off from the large table and came to the empty table beside ours where they proceeded to crawl and loll about on the banquette beside us. Mum kept glancing over and I did give her a bit of a "Paddington hard stare" (which she totally ignored) about the fifth time she looked across.

I get that it was nice for her to have a break from them but why would we want them crawling all over the seat beside us?

I think children need to be taught to behave discreetly in a restaurant from the time they are tiny. Then it's never an issue.

Not just my opinion.

This ^
Imo anyone who listens iPad in a public place should use earphones.
It doesn’t matter if they are 6 or 60 y.o.

Indeed.

Given 62% of people think that people doing this on public transport should be fined, it's not exactly a niche view.

There are technical reasons why the sounds from small speakers doesn't blend with other, more natural sounds well and tends to cut through, hard to tune out, and to be more grating to those at a moderate distance.

Knowing that (a) it affects the majority of people in a negative way, (b) there are fact-based reasons why this is a category of sound that has a particular impact and (c) there is an easy fix to this, why on earth wouldn't you use headphones?

If they can't tolerate earphones then there should be no sound at all. If you set that from the very start of using gadgets then they don't know any difference.

I say that as a parent of an AuDHD child, who always had a tablet on silent or earphones.

I find talking loudly about menopause, sex life or other adult topics tends to encourage parents to remove their offspring!

Most pubs have a time limit for kids, rightly so.

Did you ask the children or the adults? If children probably should have asked. Parents.

Yes I did say it to the kids and on reflection I shouldn't have but as I've mentioned, the parents weren't the type who would have taken it well regardless who I spoke to first.

Slightly off the track here but we used to go into pubs, drinking, at 14 & 15. If challenged we were 18 but we knew that if we stepped out of line we wouldn't be allowed back in. We were also risking a clip round the ear from the clientele.
We, therefore, were like church mice learning to be respectful and how to behave in public.Nowadays kids have to be 25 and produce ID.

YANBU this really pisses me off and I hear it every day on the tube.

If I'm feeling brave I ask people to turn it down. The number of people who play videos or have calls on speaker is outrageous. Yesterday two kids were loudly watching videos while their parent scrolled their own phone, I wish I'd told them to turn it off.

No, a big part of it is this modern belief that kids shouldn't be disciplined, neither would I want to have a kid of mingling with ferals or getting stabbed by ferals, but also because society hates discipline now, many kids seem horrible and it doesn't sell the idea!

You asked them to turn it down/use headphones.

Why did you say in your thread title you told them off?