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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

433 replies

confuseddoiordonti · 27/09/2009 21:41

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.)

OP posts:
Dumbledoresgirl · 27/09/2009 22:03

Italian restaurants do pizzas. I am with Soupdragon here - well, I said it first actually - why on earth would you go to a pizza restaurant at that time if you didn't have children in tow?

I can't help but notice that the OP has not come back to defend the position and has a dubious name. Can I shout troll and run away screaming maniacally?

Dumbledoresgirl · 27/09/2009 22:03

Oops, x posts !

KembleTwins · 27/09/2009 22:03

clemette - what do you define as "proper" food? I have taken my DTs to a pizza restaurant fairly recently. They had a lovely time and were very well behaved (which is more than could be said for the child of the friends we were with) We don't eat pizza every day, but in what way is it not "proper"?

francagoestohollywood · 27/09/2009 22:04

shhhhhhhhh

ChunkyMonkeysMum · 27/09/2009 22:04

LynetteScavo - Sorry, did you mean kids should or shouldn't be allowed to run around in restaurants ? Your post says should, but then says that you take your kids so they know how to behave approriately so I'm kind of thinking you meant shouldn't

WebDude · 27/09/2009 22:05

YANBU - shame that some people were not brought up but dragged up and therefore seem oblivious when their children are going waaaay past becoming a nuisance

I don't class any pubs or restaurants as 'family' or 'not' - if there are youngsters inside, all well and good, assuming they are not being a nuisance to others.

It must be the case that staff didn't have the backbone to intervene, in case it meant a future booking might be lost, where it is really their task to consider the experience of everyone in the place, not just the rowdy element.

cheesesarnie · 27/09/2009 22:06

yabu.maybe it was the childrens first try at eating out because the parents were worried about behaviour,maybe it was a special occasion,maybe they were having fun.

id be embarressed if my dc behaved that way but i wouldnt get cross if others did.id expect it at that time on a weekend in a place like that.

morningpaper · 27/09/2009 22:08

Pizza Places are where families with young children go to ease them gently into restaurant life

They are schools for the training of noisy youngsters into proper dining etiquette

It is like going to a children's swimming class and complaining that they are not doing teh breaststroke in clockwise circles in the correct lane

Next time don't waste child-free time by hanging around playgrounds

lou33 · 27/09/2009 22:08

i dont think there is any time and place to feel its ok to let your kids run about a restaurant

Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 27/09/2009 22:09

I think it's reasonable to expect the parents to ensure their children are well behaved. Pizza may be child friendly food, but it is not a creche in there, it's a restaurant and not everyone in there had children with them (and why should they, they wanted a pizza not a toddler...?)

Hopefully I am not coming across as anti-child, I am not at all, but I did find today unreasonable.

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 27/09/2009 22:09

Ha ha..kids shouldn't be allowed to run around and shout in resturants!

The funny thing is, before I had kis, I was really tolerant to other peoples badly behaved children. Know I realise children need to be shown and told how to behave, or they will be little wild things, and then turn into big wild things when they are older!

ChunkyMonkeysMum · 27/09/2009 22:10

Should we ever actually expect kids to be running around, shouting & shrieking in restaurants ? The major argument for those who are saying that the OP is being unreasonable is that she should expect this at this time of night at the weekend, but I don't think we should have to expect it at all. If my kids were likely to make a nuisance of themselves like this in a restaurant, I simply wouldn't take them !

gerontius · 27/09/2009 22:10

"maybe they were having fun"

Maybe they were. But that doesn't mean they can spoil someone else's meal because of it.

Hassled · 27/09/2009 22:10

A strange number of childless people seem to have just randomly stumbled across MN today.

cheesesarnie · 27/09/2009 22:11

what mp said

gerontius · 27/09/2009 22:11

Also, if anybody comes along and says "they have a much better attitude to children in restaurants in Europe" I will SCREAM.

ChunkyMonkeysMum · 27/09/2009 22:11

Totally agree with you LynetteScavo !

Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 27/09/2009 22:12

Er... I must be missing something here, but the majority of children aged 4 and under I know are usually getting ready for bed (ie in the bath or similar) about that time rather than going out for dinner. I am presuming this is not the generally the case...?

OP posts:
argento · 27/09/2009 22:13

I've been to Planet Pizza too (is it the one on Whiteladies Road?) and wouldn't have described it as a "family restaurant" to be honest. I agree pizza restaurants aren't formal, but if you can't keep your children from running around and bothering other diners and the staff, then take them to MacDonalds. A bit of noise and children getting out of their seats is one thing, but allowing them to run riot is quite another.

morningpaper · 27/09/2009 22:13

If they are GENUINELY running around then there is also the option of tripping them up

I have resorted to that once or twice

LynetteScavo · 27/09/2009 22:14

Other peoples chldren runing around and shouting wouldn't bother me, though. I would just feel smug mine were sitting and eating so nicely.

LynetteScavo · 27/09/2009 22:15

I don't like it when other peoples children squirt kethcup at me though. That's jsut going to far.

jasmeeen · 27/09/2009 22:16

I second what MrsBadger said.

If you go to a pizza place just before 7pm on a weekend night it will be full of families and with that comes noisy kids.

Dumbledoresgirl · 27/09/2009 22:17

I deplore bad behaviour in children wherever it occurs which is why I would not go to a restaurant that had lots of children in it if I myself had no children with me.

And yes, at 7pm all good children under the age of 4 are in bed.

Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 27/09/2009 22:18

It was on Gloucester Road, not been to the one on Whiteladies.

Hassled - am on MN as I am hoping to have one of my own reasonably soon; I thought it would be good to hear what bona fide mums say on the matter. I also am a Montessori teacher so can safely say I am quite clued up with matters of anyone under the age of 11!

OP posts: