Disruptive children in restaurants

[hannahdrewmom]

I think part of the problem with CG is the cancellation fee. We do signatures alot with our kids 4 and 2... but we have NEVER done CG. I refuse. I need to have the ability to cancell our ADR last minute if my kids are not fit to take out. (My ability to cancel is to EVERYONE's benifit!) 95% of the time my kids are angels when we are out.... but the 5% that they haven't been... was honestly my fault. Those times I knew that it as a bad idea and I tried anyway. With that in mind I've learned not to schedule an ADR that I can't get out of without a stiff penalty. I think that is one reason that CG has a higher incident of kids being crazy. It doesn't help that silly parents schedule dinner for 8:30 at night to see Wishes. So now you have an overtired child that should be in bed, a parent who doesn't want to pay the cancellation fee, and a restaurant full of unhappy patrons.

 

[kaligal]

I rarely took little ones to restaurants - not worth the headache. But when I needed to, I'd take them. When the baby got fussy, I left the restaurant until the baby calmed down.

However, I know that not everyone is respectful of others. And I know that Disney is full of people with children. So, if I want a meal without crying, fussing or bratty children around, I don't eat at Disney World.

If you want a little peace with your meal, WDW is probably not the best choice.

 

[sparks19]

For the most part we see lots of minor unruly stuff we won't allow our kids to do but rarely is it enough to impact our meal. We did though have a horrific experience at CRT for dinner where a child sitting in the table across the aisle from us came in complaining loudly about not feeling good and was shushed multiple times then vomited all over their food on their table and the floor next to us and along the way to the restroom completely spoiling the meal for many many people. It took quite awhile for the clean up crew to show up and you know what those folks just switched to an empty table behind them and kept eating! No one even took the sick child out and she did get sick again when we gave up on our meal and left. I think no matter how sick or out of sorts kids are some people want to get their money's worth and their enjoyment out of it and don't really care about the impact on others.

OH my goodness that is horrible. I remember my first mothers day we went to PF Changs for dinner and my daughter (infant at the time but old enough to sit up in a highchair) had a bit of reflux going on and threw up what she had just drank. I was SO embarrassed lol. I could see she was about to do it but I wouldn't have had time to run her out of there without her throwing up on the way. So I did the only thing I could think of. I tried to position myself so that it would block other diners view of this nastiness and hold up a napkin or something so people wouldn't have to see it. Thankfully because it was just a relfux issue it was only a little bit of vomit that was easily remedied with a change of clothing.

We did stay for our dinner (because she wasn't actually sick) and she was fine the rest of the time but I was still embarassed. this couple stopped by our table on the way out and told me not to be embarassed... it happens to everyone at some point and I handled it as best as possible. LOL that made me feel better but I was still mortified.

I just can't imagine a child who is genuinely SICK and vomitting all over the place and the parents just moved on to another table. I mean kids get sick and throw up. it's what they do. I'm sure they didn't expect that she was gonna puke all over the table lol. BUT their actions after that are appalling. I really don't get the "we paid a lot of money for this and you are going to enjoy every moment of it or ELSE" people.

I do understand that kids can be unruly and difficult to handle at times ... especially when they are tired. It's not the kids fault. it's the parents that don't do anything about it that tick me off. My 3 year old is perfectly capable of behaving properly when we are at a restaurant and if she's having an off day then we take her out of the restaurant to calm down.

 

[Tgtown]

I suspect a large part of the problem with unruly kids while eating out is not overstimulation but lack of training in table manners.

Completely agree with this. When DD8 was two we went out with some relatives and she and another child got up and started running around the table. I told her to sit down and if she got up again we would go sit in the car while DW and other DD (1 at the time) finished eating. She and the kid got up again and started around the table as she went by me I picked her up and we went to the car. Didn't spank her or anything else, just sat there until everyone else got finished. It was only a Pizza Hut, but we've never had any problems at restaurants again.