To expect parents to keep their children relatively quiet in a pizza restaurant...?

[confuseddoiordonti]

I have just got back from a pizza (Planet Pizza in Bristol in case anyone's wondering) and me and DH were driven bonkers by the number of overexcited shrieking childen in there (we got there just before 7pm.)

I am not against children in restaurants, and I realise this is a pizza place rather than the Ivy, but I do object to them charging about and shouting where there are people there with no dc's (like myself.) I realise that some noise is to be expected and I don't have a problem with that, but I do have a problem with the same children running about, shouting and crawling around under tables. Am I being unreasonable by getting a) pissed off and b) wishing they were someplace else so I could eat my pizza in peace...?

Lastly, while I was tempted to go over and ask some of the parents to get their children to keep it down a bit, I did chicken out and hoped they'd realise the kids were too noisey themselves (they didn't.)

mu kids have always been well behaved but my rule of thumb is that if the main course is less than a tenner, expect kids and noise. its part of life and you are quite mad to expect anything else- especially at 7pm on a nice sunny sunday.

The thing is at the particular restaurant the OP is talking about the main meals aren't less than a tenner, which is probably why she wasn't expecting it to be so full of kids.

Why oh why can't we just keep them out? I wouldn't want them if I was a restauarnt, they don't even drink, and that's where the money is! Plus they drive adult diners out early, long before the coffee and brandy stage.

I understand not wanting to have a meal 'spoilt' by children but how old were these children? What is the acceptable age that kids cannot get away with running around?

My DS is 15 months and refuses to go into a high chair at home (I've yet to take him for a 'proper' meal in a restaurant meal) so I know that wouldn't really work.

He is very wriggly and toddlers only have short attention spans, so distracting him would only work for so long. If he did begin to run and scream i would take him outside to calm down.
This is not always effective and I feel that other people judge for not having control of my son. I suppose to some people it might seem I'm not doing anything but to me, I'm doing everything in my power to keep him calm.
These people fail to realise that a child younger than 3-4 cannot be expected to sit quietly for more than a few minutes.
In my opinion, it all depends on the age of the child. Of course, if the child is doing something dangerous, then the parents should attempt to take action but its not easy.

"These people fail to realise that a child younger than 3-4 cannot be expected to sit quietly for more than a few minutes."

I disagree. It's tedious and it's painful but you can keep a child seated for the duration of a meal. If you can't then you shouldn't take them to restaurants IMO

If other people knew that their dining was going to be disturbed, then fair enough, I suppose.

Many restaurants do discourage children. I'd rather that none did, but for that to work it would depend on us as parents to keep our side of the bargain

Morgansmummy I think it is unacceptable for even a 8 month old baby to be toddling/running around. If you can't keep them in the highchair, sit them on your lap. If they don't want to sit on your lap, take them outside or to the car. Babies and toddlers should have their hand held in restaurants if there is the risk of them running off.

My friend was taking some food out where we work today. Out of nowhere and child ran into him and the table's food went everywhere so that table then had to wait even longer for their food to come out and we had to knock it off the bill. I felt like taking the bill over for the 2 meals that were knocked on the floor and the 2 meals that had to be recooked over to the child's table for the parents to pay.

This was the Mail's thread for Mumsnet This Week

God, are they still doing that column? It feels worse now that it isn't online because you can't check easily what is being said.

I wonder how long they will keep it going for.