Do you tidy up after your child in a restaurant ?

[wanderingstar]

...because I'm seeing more and more parents who just don't bother to make any effort at all to pick anything off the highchair or floor. Moreover they don't seem at all embarrassed at the sight of all sorts of food and general mess left behind.
A table will never be immaculate after my family has dined at it, but I would always, say, clear up a high chair tray with a napkin, so the staff can clean easily after we've gone. Plus I wouldn't leave masses of food on the floor either, if that's where it's, ahem, ended up. Not saying I get out the Dettox floor wipes or anything, just think it's right to show willing. What do you all do ?

I hate it when you get to a restaurant and the hoighchair is absolutely filthy. The parents haven't bothered to clean and neither have the staff... grrrr...

Depends on a)how much mess there is b)how nice the waiting staff have been and c) the circumstances under which we have to leave.
If DS is having a strop, then we may have to drop and run. If the waiting staff have been very rude / unhelpful, then I'm less inclined to help them out by tidying up. As a general rule, I will wipe anything off chairs and high chair, and will pick up any dropped cutlery etc, and will sort out all the washable stuff from the rubbish.

Having said that, I don't think that as parents we should HAVE to - cleaning is included in the price they charge.

not that we eat out often but sometimes i do sometimes not with three kids under three and one being bf it is not that easy, lots will probably disagree but no super mum here, anyway the majority of restaurants charge the earth anyway i cant see the problem with them doing there bit

not that we eat out often but sometimes i do sometimes not with three kids under three and one being bf it is not that easy, lots will probably disagree but no super mum here, anyway the majority of restaurants charge the earth anyway i cant see the problem with them doing there bit

I cleaned up the other day in a soft play area. I actually borrowed a dustpan and brush. BUT, while I was doing it I felt wrong. Like a grovelling, snivelling ... I don't know but I just felt it was humiliating. I did pay for the food after all. So I won't be doing it again. I often feel I'm too grovelly.

At my works Kids Xmas party my dh and I helped to tidy up after 120 kids. I was disgusted at the mess left, one family even left a wet nappy on top of the table, not even in a nappy sack!!!!!

I would always expect to leave table tidy in restaurant, also my bugbear is the mess people leave in cinemas, popcorn tubs, drink cups sweet papers etc....grrr!!! I always insist the DS's bring any rubbish with them to the bin which is always just outside anyway.

Yes, wipe down highchair table and pick up stuff dropped on floor. I won't obsessively pick up crumbs off the floor, but will ALWAYS pick up large lumps of food and any straws, plastic spoons etc. But I do expect the staff to properly clean a highchair table after use, in the same way they would (hopefully!) wipe down an adult table. And most places just don't clean the highchairs. As for s/o saying it's more of a working class thing to do - rubbish. In your limited experience that may have been the case, but don't tar all middle class mothers with the same brush. All my (terribly middle class, don't you know) friends are extremely fastidious about cleaning up after their children.

Since we're making generalisations, I would have thought, if anything, it would be more of a middle class thing to do. Guilty middle class people always apologising for themselves etc etc. Working people less likely to do it because of some sort of pride etc.

Yes we always clean up in restaurants, and also when staying in hotels, on day off departure, I trip all the beds, wash up the cups and saucers, make sure all rubbish is in bins, open windows ti air room, and I even move everything off the tables etc ready for the maid to polish

my justification for this is I used to be a housekeeper and I know what damn hard work it is.

spidermama, I am most definitely nowhere near middle class but I do it because I don't think some underpaid waitress should have to clean up after my two. Yes it is their job but I hate to see people make pigs of themselves in restaurants/cafes/food courts. There really is no need.

I don't see it as apologising or feeling guilty. I just know what a b*tch it is when people are inconsiderate!

Maybe the middle class do!

Maybe the middle class do WHAT?

Not read all but I do to a degree, generally she's always been pretty good so not too much of a problem. I do however suffer from terrible embarrassment when in a restaurant with another persons child who makes such an awful mess everywhere. You'll probably all think I'm nuts now.. I probably am.

less likely to do what spidermama? i'm a working mom and i tidy table after ourselves because i know how hard the waitresses have to work.

going off at a slight tangent - does it annoy anyone else when youhave friends round and they don't pick up their kids crisps etc? have just had to spend an extra half hour (on top of normal hoovering)vacuuming up ground in crisps and scrub at carpet with hoover! steaming

I guess I'm middle class but always clear the baby mess. It's rude not to. Like I've always expected the children to put their knives and forks together, not throw napkins on the floor and put (not scrape) their chairs back under the table. Our Waitrose cafe has a real fingernails down blackboard floor. Would never stack plates though. I can't stand the thought of people looking at me and thinking what rude children.

i am a waitress and its so nice when people stack their plates and don't leave food all over the table!!scraping isn't that much of an issue but i must admit it is appreciative when we are rushed off our feet and can get on with taking food out that is up rather than empyting plates.
what else annoys me is when people don't make any effort to pass you a plate and you have to reach all over them. even at 7 months pregnant some people don't seem to realise its quite difficult leaning across 4 or 5 people to retrieve a plate at the opposite end of the table!!
TBH though if its just a bit on the floor, it's not that much of a problem as we will just clear it up with everything else the next morning.
One last moan is parents who let their kids run riot. Many a time have i almost tripped over one and spilled boiling hot food over one, then it would be a different story. I remember telling one kindly could it please stop running up and down the ramp as it was dangerous while we were carrying hot food about. I then had to dealwith a very angry mother who said I had no right telling her kids not to do that and if she thought they needed telling off she would be the one to do it.
On the other hand there's is one girl of about 2 who comes in regularly with her parents at about 10pm.she rips up all the activity sheets, tips crayons everywhere and messes with the freshly disenfected and clingfilmed highchairs. then her mother says oh if she's being a nuisance just tell her off - that's her job not mine!!

oh yes there'snothing more annoying when a perfectly capable child doesn't help. you don't mind so uch when they are 6 months old, but when they are 8 and 9 and making such a mess you can't understand it.
i can remember one time i asked a boy who was probably 8-10 to pass me his plate. his dad reached over him, picked it up and passed it to me for him. i'm sure he could have managed it himself!!

I'd stack plates in a cafe but just clear up in a restaurant. I know one mum (no longer see her though) who lets her kids run riot at someone else's house but is totally anal in her own home.

I don't think it is fair on the staff or the next customers to leave a messy floor. Before DD was born we went to Wagamama (japanese resto). The people we sat next too left an incredible mess that their child did on the floor and bench. And it was even not the restaurant food!!! sO why should the staff be cleaning after them. It is just a natural thing I think to clear up after our mess...

i do a cursory clean with the babywipe and pick up any massive bits from the floor and if i'm in a fast food place, i'll pop everything on the tray and take it to the bin. not obesessive about it, just think it's considerate

ps, i'm middle class

Yes I do. Not a full clean, obviously, but pick up big bits of food and give a quick wipe over with baby wipe or napkin.
Was in (whisper it) McDonalds the other week and ds1 spilled his orange all over the floor. So mopped it up with paper napkins.
Kids with the family next door had deliberately squashed tomato sauce pots under their table, and then left. So next people to sit down trod in the stuff. Just plain rude, really.