Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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:
belgo · 28/09/2009 10:12

oh ok Princesstoadstool, I'm not really reading the thread properly

Restrainedrabbit · 28/09/2009 10:13

To me relatively means not shouting (wouldn't like this at the table at home too) but talking normally is ok, not banging hard things on the table but playing with quiet toys is fine, not running around but accept that if they need to get up because they are bored then you take them outside or to the toilet or whatever and finally playing around our table is fine as long as they don't bang in to or disturb anyone surrounding us.

LOL Pavlov

Restrainedrabbit · 28/09/2009 10:14

Oh I don't mind laughing at any volume!

CNyle · 28/09/2009 10:15

IMO
*kids need to stay seated

  • you cant expect no kids before asay 8pm
  • parents need to LOOK AFter their kids
Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 28/09/2009 10:16

The parents weren't really doing anything, which, in retrospect, was more perhaps annoying than the noise. It wasn't utter carnage in there, but it's not a big place so there is a limit to how far away you can move from it. I thought they would be going soonish after we got there just before 7, but instead they got their dinner just before us.

OP posts:
Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 28/09/2009 10:19

Of course I don't mind laughing either!

restrainedrabbit my interpretation of 'relatively' is along those lines too. And if they get a bit too lairy / giddy I think it's reasonable to expect the parents to try and calm them down a bit.

OP posts:
DoNotPressTheRedButton · 28/09/2009 10:21

OP, you dor elaise that if you do ever have kids, after this thread Karma will get you and they will be terrors,and you will never eat out again except in wacky warehouse?

Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 28/09/2009 10:24

Hmmm.

OP posts:
ShinyAndNew · 28/09/2009 10:25

Before I had children I swore that my children who behave in a quiet and civilised manner when we were eating out and if not I would make them leave the restaurant regardless of whether or not we had eaten the meal we had paid for

As I said that was before I had children. It's not always that easy to keep children quiet at family restaurants. Those parnts may have been having a rare family meal out due to income/jobs/daily life etc and perhaps their childrens antics were not their main prioity?

I agree that they shouldn't have been crawling under others people's tables but if you wanted a quiet meal you shouldn't have gone to a family restaurant at dinner time.

PavlovtheForgetfulCat · 28/09/2009 10:27

but, restrainedrabbit, you say 'playing around our table is fine as long as they don't bang in to or disturb anyone surrounding us' is where subjectivity comes in, isn't it? For you that is fine, for someone else, this might be considered as 'running around the restuarant creating havoc'. Some people beleive children should sit, not get down End of Story.

So, the answer is clear. Do not go to a pizza restaurant before 8pm on a weekend.

Original poster
confuseddoiordonti · 28/09/2009 10:27

Is 7pm the normal dinner time for 2 to 6 year olds...?

OP posts:
PavlovtheForgetfulCat · 28/09/2009 10:29

As a treat at weekends it would be, they probably got there at 6pm, possible after a nice day trip with the family doing something nice and they were all exhausted. Including the parents.

CNyle · 28/09/2009 10:30

DONT PLAY AROUND THE TABLE fgs
if they cant sit still they are too small to go tbh

bruffin · 28/09/2009 10:38

Some parents think their children have a right to run around and scream.

I work for a car dealership in an office at the back. We have a lovely wendy house , lego and toys for customer's children to play with.

Last week there were two little ones screaming their heads off running around,parents did nothing to stop them.They just saw it as a playground for the kids, not a workplace where people are trying to do their jobs.

We have a service desk at the front, where they have to take and receive calls. Sounds really professional to have screaming kids in the background.
I think they were waiting for an mot so were there quite a long time.

bohomummy · 28/09/2009 10:42

It is DANGEROUS to allow your kids to roam around in a restaurant for all the reasons cited by waitresses - you can bet if anything happens to the child the parents will look to sue the restaurant (think Somerfields Liverpool and a now dead 4 year old) rather than consider a more pro-active approach to parenting. YANB totally U.

What is riling me in this whole discussion is the assumption that littlies "should" be in the bath or in bed by this time. Why should they? Who says so? Could it not be that some families have different schedules or is this not allowed?

My wee one is rarely asleep before 10pm, she is a joy to be with/around.

NellyNoNorks · 28/09/2009 10:49

I think the only 'should' about it is that parents who can't manage to get their children to behave reasonably in public places should most definitely keep them at home until they can behave. If the children don't behave themselves in public, they should be removed (I have done this, and it's not fun for anyone - but other people deserve not to have their evenings out spoilt).

navyeyelasH · 28/09/2009 11:01

This post has really irked me as everyone here is judging the children and the parents without knowing the specifics of the location.

Planet Pizza is a nice place to eat for children and adults; however on the weekend IMVHO it it's a childrens carnage zone.

THEY HAVE A FOOTBALL TABLE I have seen grown men and women get excited playing on one of these things. I would imagine what happens is the children sit down to eat their food but prior to sitting down and after finishing they play on this football table - there is only one and there is often a bunch of people around this table cheering on others/watching/going to tell their parents they scored a goal!

I sincerely doubt children were literally running - rushing yes probably, but running I do not believe.

rubbish pic but look at the size of the place. There is nowhere to run!

This can not be compared to a pizza express/pizza hut. Think of it as shoving 50 people into a space that really you can only fit 30, add one arcade game and 70% of those in attendance are children. Of course it's going to be carnage regardless of how well mannered your children are.

I do not have children by the way.

OP next time call ahead, reserve a space at the back and sit far far away from the football table.

I think YABU and dramatic sorry

nappyaddict · 28/09/2009 11:03

Pavlov when you say your DD is a nightmare in restaurants, in what way?

boho is your little one a baby though cos that's different? A lot of babies don't sleep the typical 7-7 that people seem to expect from the age of 6 months

Was it the 2 year old banging toys or were the older ones doing it as well? It's quite common for babies and toddlers to bang toys is it not?

Restrainedrabbit · 28/09/2009 11:07

It is Nappy but I wouldn't let my 11mth old bang anything loud on the table just because he is a baby - I would give him something else to fiddle with or make him bang it on my hand so it wouldn't make a noise. He also likes to 'test' his voice and is very loud (on 93rd centile so a BIG boy!) but if he started doing that I would quickly distract him.

nappyaddict · 28/09/2009 11:12

I meant banging things on the highchair, not the table. It seems to make less of a noise on the highchair I think.

NellyNoNorks · 28/09/2009 11:56

Maybe the restaurant in question should advertise itself as a haven for badly behaved children and their equally badly behaved parents, then, navyeyelasH? That way, the OP and other people whose children can behave will know better than to try to eat there.

PavlovtheForgetfulCat · 28/09/2009 12:20

nappy she likes to sing loudly, she cries to get down, she can climb down, and she is very fast, so it means she sometimes runs around, (not sure what is worse, her running, or me waddling after her ) or tries to clamber on my chair, or DHs chair, there is generally lots of 'pavlovs DD, come back, sit down, eat' followed by shouts of 'NO!" etc etc. It is no different at home. She has the attention span of a goldfish.

Oh and she has a newfound thing of banging the ends of her fork and knife on the table saying 'where is my dinner?' at the top of her voice. Something she has only recently started doing since nursery (blame the educational system too I would say ).

I am not in the slightest bothered by her behaviour, regardless of how wild it looks. I know how she used to be, and I know she will be fine by the time I can afford the Ivy .

Really though, I don't generally go to restuarants with DD in the evening, because of the very fact she is tired and crabby. Not because of the customers, but because i don't find it enjoyable. We tend to go out for lunches instead, and pick somewhere where she is allowed to run around without being frowned at. But even then, there is always someone who looks like she has been brought in on their shoe.

Dumbledoresgirl · 28/09/2009 12:28

Awww I love Frankie and Benny's when eating out with the children. (In response to Getorfmoiland).

But I wouldn't go to that restaurant or any pizza place if I had no children and had the free choice of somewhere with a bit more sophistication.

And nuts to anyone who thinks good manners equates to the British having a rod up their backsides. Good manners is what many people teach their children so they won't grow up to be oafs and louts.

gerontius · 28/09/2009 12:29

So basically you're having a good time, screw everyone else?

PavlovtheForgetfulCat · 28/09/2009 12:33

gerontius if that was aimed at me, then no, not true at all, read the post properly. Rather, I will not get myself more stressed than it already can be with a child who will not behave by worrying about others. And as I pointed out. For the reason of her being tired etc at that kind of time I rarely go to restuarants with her. It matters not if that is for my benefit rather than others, the end result of not having a crying misbehaving 3 year old annoying others at tea time is the same.

and if it was not aimed at me, I shall put my handbag back down .

Swipe left for the next trending thread