Why do parents do this to their children?

[LoraJ]

We just returned from WDW. We usually had dinner at around 8:30pm. There were a couple of times where we observed families dragging their overly tired, cranky, hungry kids into the restaurants at around 9:30pm. The worst was at Fulton's Crab House where a large group with lots of kids took over the bar waiting for a table and most of them proceeded to fall asleep with their heads on the bar. The other half of them were whining about how hungry and tired they were. They ended up eating at the bar and most of the kids had chicken tenders and fries. Why couldn't they have just taken them over to McDonald's?

I'm not saying parents shouldn't bring children out late. There were plenty of wide awake children not falling asleep on tables. But I don't understand why parents feel the need to drag their unwilling children who do nothing but whine and cry and disturb those trying to enjoy their meals?

 

[cardaway]

Because some parents bring the kids along but still schedule the vacation around themselves as adults.

 

[sha_lyn]

yep how dare parent bring hungry children to a restaurant where they actually serve food. How dare the parents attempt to feed their hungry children.

You also realize not everyone at WDW lives in the eastern time zone right? It very well could have been near their normal dinning hr. How dare those parents keep their kids on their normal schedule instead of think of you first

 

[hydster]

That's why when our kids were little we wouldn't schedule a big meal dinner sit down somewhere at DL because they were too wiped out to wait for the waitress and the order taking etc. We always took them to a nice lunch somewhere and then ate somewhere really fast for dinner.

I don't see it as disturbing others as MUCH as the fact that the kids were "past their patience level" for waiting and just wanted to eat and leave. It's not easy for a child to wait for food when they are starving or tired. I feel for kids who's parents try to keep them going, going, going when the kids are gone! Makes for a long, stressful night with whining tired kids who actually could care less where they eat as long as they have fries

 

[Hedy]

I had a similar experience at Alfredo's. Toddler was screaming his head off and throwing things.

 

[happybratpack]

Because some parents bring the kids along but still schedule the vacation around themselves as adults.

ITA.

It's not a point of people bringing their kids into restaurants, it's the point of knowing when the kids are too tired or otherwise not up to sitting somewhere for an hour.

 

[Christine]

People are forever telling me what a "stick in the mud" I am but I always have strived to get the 5:00 p.m. ADRs for just the experience you pointed out.

Even going for a 5:00 p.m. ADR, well, that was even trying with small children. I can not imagine going at 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. My children would be asleep in their plates. (However, I have seen that at the 5:00 p.m. seating also!!).

 

[LoraJ]

yep how dare parent bring hungry children to a restaurant where they actually serve food. How dare the parents attempt to feed their hungry children.

You also realize not everyone at WDW lives in the eastern time zone right? It very well could have been near their normal dinning hr. How dare those parents keep their kids on their normal schedule instead of think of you first

I have no problem with that. If you read my OP, I say there were plenty of wide awake children there from other time zones. The falling asleep at tables and bar children were obviously not up for a meal at a restaurant that could not serve them right away. Or where they come in already tired and hungry, are told they have a 30 minute wait and insist on staying while their children whine about how hungry they are. I find that very unfair to these kids as well as the patrons who have to listen to the whining and crying.

 

[chobie]

Okay my 2 cents.

There is no excuse for not taking a sceaming baby/toddler out of a restaurant or into the restroom. There is also no excuse for loud, obnoxious adults in a nice restuarant either.

As for kids being tired at WDW, oh well. They won't die, or suffer irreparable harm because they were pushed past their limits on vacation. I have yet to hear of anyone needing therapy as an adult because their parents kept them out late while on vacation. The parents should be able to enjoy some time to. As long as the kids are not being so loud as to infringe on others than people should mind their own business. JMHO.

 

[jenm2878]

There is no excuse for not taking a sceaming baby/toddler out of a restaurant or into the restroom. There is also no excuse for loud, obnoxious adults in a nice restuarant either.

As long as the kids are not being so loud as to infringe on others than people should mind their own business. JMHO.

This reminded me of when we were at Alfredo's on our honeymoon. The family next to us had 4 kids. One was asleep draped across the table, two were beating each other up and kept bumping into tables, one was screaming that he had to poop, and the parents were arguing about whose job it was to take the kid to the bathroom. Talk about distracting. Our waiter was wonderful and told us that if we gave him a few minutes to try to hurry up the family he would give us a free dessert. We absolutely took him up on it.

 

[LoraJ]

But it does become my business when it infringes upon the enjoyment of my meal.

 

[Dax]

I agree that some parents though are totally oblivious to the child SCREAMING or being obnoxious in the restaurant. I purposely made a late Thanksgiving dinner AD at Cape May in hopes of avoiding some of it..We shall see.

 

[chobie]

But it does become my business when it infringes upon the enjoyment of my meal.

Not if the noise of the whining and crying is at a normal conversational level; that is not your business. If than infringes on your enjoyment that is your problem alone. If the whining and crying is louder than normal conversational level then that is your business.

 

[sha_lyn]

As for kids being tired at WDW, oh well. They won't die, or suffer irreparable harm because they were pushed past their limits on vacation. I have yet to hear of anyone needing therapy as an adult because their parents kept them out late while on vacation. The parents should be able to enjoy some time to. As long as the kids are not being so loud as to infringe on others than people should mind their own business. JMHO.

The falling asleep at tables and bar children were obviously not up for a meal at a restaurant that could not serve them right away. Or where they come in already tired and hungry, are told they have a 30 minute wait and insist on staying while their children whine about how hungry they are. I find that very unfair to these kids as well as the patrons who have to listen to the whining and crying.

Show me one restaurant in DTD that doesn't have a 30 min wait. The line for Mcdonalds is often 20 min longer or more. So yep, those parents sure should have made their kids stand waiting in a line for 20 min or longer for nasty food, instead of ordering chicken tenders at the bar at Fultons.

So were the kids asleep or were they whinning? Your OP talked about kids sleepign with their heads on the table. Just how is that unfair to you and other patrons?

 

[LoraJ]

I said half were asleep, the other half were whining/crying.
We walked by McD's when we left the restaurant. There was no wait.

 

[cardaway]

But it does become my business when it infringes upon the enjoyment of my meal.

Exactly. When I sit down at one of the full service places I expect there not to be anybody screaming and nobody running around the tables. I don't think that's too much to ask, even at WDW. There are plenty of other places at WDW where I have no problems with anything like that.

 

[famofsix]

We just returned from WDW. We usually had dinner at around 8:30pm. There were a couple of times where we observed families dragging their overly tired, cranky, hungry kids into the restaurants at around 9:30pm. The worst was at Fulton's Crab House where a large group with lots of kids took over the bar waiting for a table and most of them proceeded to fall asleep with their heads on the bar. The other half of them were whining about how hungry and tired they were. They ended up eating at the bar and most of the kids had chicken tenders and fries. Why couldn't they have just taken them over to McDonald's?

I'm not saying parents shouldn't bring children out late. There were plenty of wide awake children not falling asleep on tables. But I don't understand why parents feel the need to drag their unwilling children who do nothing but whine and cry and disturb those trying to enjoy their meals?

I think the thing is that kids are unpredictable. The happy kid that just got a chance to sit down may "hit the wall" due to all the excitement. Also it may be that the parents did not have ADR's and were on the wait list and thought the wait would be shorter. Who knows?
Personally, dragging them out of there and over to McDonalds would not have helped my family.
As far as some people who are annoyed by children acting out in restaurants...it could be a million reasons why. My toddler switches from happy go lucky to throwing food whenever the tide changes so it's always a crap shoot when we go out! There are annoying people everywhere in all shapes and sizes...I just go with the flow and try not to let it bother me. As for our kids, we try to keep them respectful but I am sure there are times that they annoy others. We would take a screaming toddler out and walk around and calm him down but even that effort may not be enough for some people. If we took all the tired and hungry kids and cell phone addicted adults from restaurants we would not need any ADR's

 

[famofsix]

Exactly. When I sit down at one of the full service places I expect there not to be anybody screaming and nobody running around the tables. I don;t think that's too much to ask, even at WDW. There are plenty of other places at WDW where I have no problems with anything like that.

In this case, it is a parental discipline issue. We don't let our kids run around restaurants screaming.

 

[U2_rocks!]

I hate to see kids like that too, and I try very hard not to push mine to that point. We also wouldn't have plans to eat that late, but I know some families do, so that's not the part that bugs me.

I will concede that it isn't always easy to "read" your kids, and they can go from happy to meltdown in an instant. But if it were me I couldn't stay there with my kids while they were just losing it or half asleep - I'd have to tell DH "change of plan, we're getting these kids home to bed", and if we weren't staying somewhere with a kitchen we'd grab food somewhere on the way back to the room (McDs or the hotel snack food place etc.).

So while I know these things happen, and kids can hit the wall at any time while on a busy and overwhelming vacation, I guess I don't agree with the family remaining in the restaurant if the kids clearly cannot handle being there.

 

[U2_rocks!]

In this case, it is a parental discipline issue. We don't let our kids run around restaurants screaming.

OMG we don't either - and it's difficult because they see other kids doing it and wonder why they can't! It would be so much easier if we could say "kids aren't allowed to run around in this restaurant" without having to be watching a bunch of them do just that!