Screaming children will not be tolerated!

[Buckeye Princess]

My DD 19 months is at the age where she occasionally experiments with tantrums. My policy is always that I ignore her to teach her it won't work IF we are at a place where I don't feel it will affect someone's experience. So if we are a restaurant, show, art museum then I remove her and let her finish it outside. If we are at the grocery store, mall etc then I just let her go to town and she is usually done in 3-5 minutes. I know it might annoy someone but I figure that going to the grocery store isn't really an "experience" so much as a task or chore. As a result she learned fast that it doesn't work and we rarely have one anyway.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I agree with both of you.

There is at least one Mom who has an autistic child who says it's wrong. I think the restaurant owner hit the nail on the head when she said she felt badly for the woman but it's not her problem. I know that sounds cold, but you could use the same argument for movies, plays etc.

Not this mom. I have two autistic kids and if my kids screamed at a restaurant, I'd get them out ASAP. Why would anyone think it's ok to sit in a restaurant with their kid screaming? I'm an old pro, so I can usually tell when one of my kids is on the verge of a meltdown. When I see one coming, I do what I can to avoid it. Sometimes that means leaving a place and heading home.

I have a friend who took her toddler to a restaurant last summer. My friend knew that it was over an hour to be seated for lunch, but they decided to wait. By the time they were seated, the little girl was beyond crabby and starving. She was screaming and carrying on. A customer complained and asked the manager to have her remove the screaming kid. Well, her husband got mad and made a scene. How dare they ask his baby to be quiet. My friend could not believe the nerve of someone asking a baby to be quiet. I told her I could not believe the nerve of her forcing her screaming kid on to people trying to enjoy their meal.

It all boils down to people not being considerate of others around them.

 

[Hannathy]

My DD 19 months is at the age where she occasionally experiments with tantrums. My policy is always that I ignore her to teach her it won't work IF we are at a place where I don't feel it will affect someone's experience. So if we are a restaurant, show, art museum then I remove her and let her finish it outside. If we are at the grocery store, mall etc then I just let her go to town and she is usually done in 3-5 minutes. I know it might annoy someone but I figure that going to the grocery store isn't really an "experience" so much as a task or chore. As a result she learned fast that it doesn't work and we rarely have one anyway.

Sorry anywhere you THINK it might annoy someone IT DOES and the child should be removed. I used to wait until I could go to the store by myself-which meant sometimes shopping at odd hours and I do not want to hear your child if I have gone out of my way to not deal with mine.

If your kid is screaming anywhere it is your duty as a parent to remove them and not subject others to it. If you like it so much go in your car close the windows and listen to it. 3-5 minutes is very long to hear a child screaming!

 

[Scurvy]

I would eat there all the time! I saw something about this on TV yesterday morning (probably the same thing a previous poster mentioned) and during the interview with a woman who objects to the policy her child started crying. I never really had any sympathy for her, but if I had I would have lost it when she said something like "I can't help it if my child yells; he's a child!". She seemed to think it was unreasonable for someone to expect to go to dinner without hearing a shrieking kid, because after all that's what kids do. Maybe she can't keep the kid from crying/yelling, but she can certainly keep it from disturbing everyone else in the restaurant. If parents don't have enough sense to do that on their own then I wish more restaurant owners, grocery store managers, etc. would enforce policies like this one.

I can't understand why anyone would have a problem with this policy, unless they are the type to let their children misbehave without regard to those around them, and in that case the restaurant is better off without them. And I agree with previous posters - the people who say they can't remove their kids because that's giving the kids what the want are missing the point. You make it unpleasant for the child, and they will learn to behave appropriately in the future. Yes, it can be inconvenient to have to miss out on part of your meal or to rearrange your schedule because you had to leave the grocery while your child was screaming. But that's part of being a parent. You put up with the inconvenience so your child will learn proper behavior and so those around you don't have to suffer through the screaming.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that kids need to be reasonably quiet and should not be allowed to run around the restaurant either. I hate it when I see waitstaff having to dodge little kids running around playing.

As for the article, I would so eat at this restaurant.

 

[si-am]

Sorry anywhere you THINK it might annoy someone IT DOES and the child should be removed. I used to wait until I could go to the store by myself-which meant sometimes shopping at odd hours and I do not want to hear your child if I have gone out of my way to not deal with mine.

If your kid is screaming anywhere it is your duty as a parent to remove them and not subject others to it. If you like it so much go in your car close the windows and listen to it. 3-5 minutes is very long to hear a child screaming!

Yeah I really hate screaming kids in grocery stores too.

 

[rie'smom]

Yeah I really hate screaming kids in grocery stores too.

I was thinking how great it would be if the no screaming rule was policy at the grocery store and Wal Mart.

 

[Pakey]

Screaming indoors should be like the 10 second rule with dropped food. You've got 10 seconds to take care of the screaming or the child must be taken outside.

 

[Scurvy]

I was thinking how great it would be if the no screaming rule was policy at the grocery store and Wal Mart.

Me too. I'd be thrilled if everyplace (restaurants, stores, hotels . . . basically all indoor venues) would implement a "No screaming/yelling" policy for everyone, regardless of age. I don't care if it's a baby or a teen or an adult, if they are screaming or yelling then they are not behaving appropriately and they need to leave until they can be considerate of those around them.

 

[sunnyday123]

Me too. I'd be thrilled if everyplace (restaurants, stores, hotels . . . basically all indoor venues) would implement a "No screaming/yelling" policy for everyone, regardless of age. I don't care if it's a baby or a teen or an adult, if they are screaming or yelling then they are not behaving appropriately and they need to leave until they can be considerate of those around them.

Exactly. It doesn't matter where you are, there are rules that should be followed. It's called consistency, and if more kids had it, the world would be a better place.

 

[MushyMushy]

Sorry anywhere you THINK it might annoy someone IT DOES and the child should be removed. I used to wait until I could go to the store by myself-which meant sometimes shopping at odd hours and I do not want to hear your child if I have gone out of my way to not deal with mine.

If your kid is screaming anywhere it is your duty as a parent to remove them and not subject others to it. If you like it so much go in your car close the windows and listen to it. 3-5 minutes is very long to hear a child screaming!

I agree! Hey, my kids weren't perfect. I had to sit out in the car at Walmart a time or two while hubby finished up the shopping, but I just learned to keep a book with me. I wasn't about to subject other people to my kids' moods.

The oldest was ADHD and ODD -- thankfully, and I can't tell you how thankful I was for this, he didn't have tantrums in public. But he could get hyper and loud, which I didn't tolerate either.

 

[scrapquitler]

Really it should just be common sense for all parents that if your child starts screaming or creating a disturbance, you should remove the child from the restaurant (or movie, or play, or grocery store, Target, whatever). I've done it a number of times myself...left the cart in Target and just let the cashier know I'd be back when my child calmed down, left my dinner in Applebees while I walked the child in the parking lot, etc.

HOWEVER. Its not just always the screaming child that is disruptive. More often than the child (who to some extent can be excused for not knowing better and the parent needs to get SOME leeway to calm him before removing him), the biggest disturbances in movies, plays, grocery stores, and restaurants are OBNOXIOUS ADULTS who should DEFINITELY know better. And unfortunately most people don't hesitate to call out the parents of a screaming child, but most people DO hesitate to confront that rude drunken man that is acting even more obnoxiously than the screaming baby.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

Yeah this goes a lot with common sense. (adults and kids)

 

[eliza61]

Funny, because when they showed this on the local news this morning, it was spun as a totally restaurant vs parent of an autistic child story. The parent of the autistic child said the sign was put up to single them out, and violates the American with Disabilities Act.

I do not have any autistic children, but I would think that like any child, if they got to the point where they were not behaving appropriately for a restaurant, they should be removed until they can behave appropriately.

I'm a mom of an disable child and I hate, loathe and despise when mothers play the "autistic" child card. My kid is an Aspie kid and while I know that means he's high functioning, we never ever allowed unruly behaviour. I just don't get using that as an excuse to let kids run amok.

Anyway, yesterday I was in target picking up school supplies and 2 kids were running up and down the aisle pushing the cart and yelling. I'm standing there thinking "where the heck are these monsters parents" finally 3 team members stop the kids and make them get out of the cart. Personally I would have told them to get the heck out of the store.

kudos to the restaurant.

 

[MM27]

I love this policy and I think it should be extended to places other than restaurants as well. I know some parents can just tune their kids out when they scream, but the rest of us can't and find it really annoying.

I was at an Olive Garden restaurant once and there was a kid that was screaming bloody murder. A couple that was seated near them asked the waitress to do something about it and she actually went and got the manager. The manager told the couple that it was a family restaurant and there was really nothing that he could do. He said he could move them, but seriously, the kid was so loud that simply moving wouldn't hide the screams. The parents saw that people were complaining and started making comments, loudly, about people not liking kids and learn to deal with it. They were more annoying than the screams after awhile.

 

[ChrizJen]

I wholeheartedly agree as well. I know that as a mother, it's my responsibility to keep my child from disrupting others in a public place. It used to be common practice in public places that a parent would remove a screaming child to another area to get them calmed down. Now it seems less common. It's just a product of the society I suppose. People just don't care about other people anymore.

 

[danielephant]

LOVE THIS!!! While my 2 year old is not the best behaved child on the earth, i find it terribly annoying when children scream. My friends son is 6 months older than my daughter and he will flat out scream like a little girl and i find myself shhhhing him all the time, and she says "oh i don't even notice it anymore." ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!? tell him not to do it DUH!

we went to pizza hut with them once and my husband said NEVER again, cause of his screaming it was aweful!

 

[danielephant]

I was thinking how great it would be if the no screaming rule was policy at the grocery store and Wal Mart.

YES YES YES YES!!!!!! I HATE walmart and this just makes it 100% worse screaming brats! my daughter says "that baby is crying" and i say "yes and if you acted like that you would be getting a spankin" REALLY LOUD!!! lol

 

[cm8]

A policy like that would make me want to go there just because I KNOW I won't have to listen to someone else's kid scream through my meal

. exactly, My children know how to behave in public and do it. If they can not behave the way that they know they should, then they will have to leave. I give the "eye" and they straighten up pretty fast. We all paid to enjoy a nice dinner and children or not, I have a right to some peace and quiet. I especially dislike it when your child is screaming his or her head off and you sit there ignoring it and eating your dinner like it's normal behavior. That is just plain RUDE, and you need to get your child under control.

 

[jrmasm]

My DD 19 months is at the age where she occasionally experiments with tantrums. My policy is always that I ignore her to teach her it won't work IF we are at a place where I don't feel it will affect someone's experience. So if we are a restaurant, show, art museum then I remove her and let her finish it outside. If we are at the grocery store, mall etc then I just let her go to town and she is usually done in 3-5 minutes. I know it might annoy someone but I figure that going to the grocery store isn't really an "experience" so much as a task or chore. As a result she learned fast that it doesn't work and we rarely have one anyway.

The only place you should doing that is your own home.