Just wanting to see what peoples views are regarding children’s behaviour in coffee shops.
I took my well behaved 3 year old for some lunch a couple of weeks ago. There was only one table free and a boisterous 2 year old was running across the seats and was very noisy. I asked the parent (who was chatting to 2 friends) if the table was free and she replied yes. I sat down with my daughter and the little boy remained at the table with us even though there was a seat at his mothers table. The mother said to me that he was fine with us as he was only playing and I was not using all of the seats. I was gobsmacked, I would never sit my child with a stranger, I told the parent that I would like my daughter to sit opposite me to which she replied ‘ok he can sit next to her then’ they eventually left and gave me a stare on their way out.
2 weeks later I was in the cafe again and the same women came in and sat on a table near me. They stared, laughed and talked about me so that I could hear, saying how rude I was! I got up and told them that I could hear what they were saying and that it was rude to leave a child on someone else’s table, they said how rude I was and got quite argumentative and starting accusing me of telling them to remove their child which I never did. They said he is only 2 and was only playing. He may have only been playing but i am not sure if it is appropriate to have him playing at someone else's table.
Am i being unreasonable here to want a quiet coffee with my daughter and not with someone else’s child?