Upscale restaurants: Not "family-friendly"

We don't exactly fine-dine at El Swanko places, but we didn't take Huggy Jr. out until he was six or so (he's eight now). We take him to our fave local hangout, a casual, neighbourhood joint, where he enjoys the kid's menu and is happy to watch sports on TV until his meal comes. He has been complimented by the staff on his behaviour and even he shakes his head at the antics of other kids he sees. He knows if he acted like that he'd be left at home with his grandmother.

He's an only child, don't know if that has anything to do with it. He's not a perfect kid but he's no trouble to take out.

 

That's because he knows you'll jersey him if he gets out of line.

 

Right before our older one starts kindergarten next year, we plan on taking her out to a swanky place for her special dinner. But, you can be sure we'll have worked on manners and everything else beforehand, so it should be no problem. She loves new experiences.

 

This is great, 93, and it's exactly what I used to do when Little Liesl was young. And I do believe that it's what most parents of young children do. However, there are those that don't. And yes, it does bother me. Parents will look at me as their adorable child quietly walks up to me & wants me to admire how dang cute they are. Yes, your kid is cute, but if I pay attention to them then they will want to stay there and keep talking to me. This is fine in the right setting, but not during my long dinner date at 9 pm on a Saturday night!

I want to know what the deal is with the parents that somehow think it's OK to bring their children (ranging in age from 2 up to 10) to a sports bar during Saturday or Sunday football! There's smoking, drinking, jumping, screaming, cussing. On what freaking planet does a parent think this is a good environment for a 5-year-old???

 

I'd get an instigator for sure.

 

Idiot parents.

Like I said in an earlier post our local sports bar doesn't allow ANYONE under the age of 19 on the premises. Works great.

There are some places--other than peeler bars--that should be for adults only.

 

One thing that works for us is taking him out at hours when he'd normally eat. We go out only on Friday or Saturday nights between 6 and 7 p.m. and are home no later than 9 which is when he usually gets to bed. We can see he gets fidgety after 90 minutes or so. I'm amazed so many parents can't see that in their own kids.

 

When my boys were younger (10 & 8 or so), their favourite place was Don Cherry's.

Better than average pub food, big TV's with either a hockey game or Rock'em Sock'em on and Sega Genesis (that dates me) on the tables.

We were always out of there by the end of the first period if it were a Saturday night.

 

1. The term "peeler bars" is not used nearly enough.

2. Couldn't agree more about idiot parents being the issue. I'm going to sound like Old Man Mac Daddy, but it seems there's a lot of young parents these days who expect to live their same lives even after they have kids. Having kids doesn't mean your social life is over, but it does means there are going to be some significant changes. A lot of parents don't get that.

 

I try to bring my 3 year old to restaurants every week so that she will learn table manners in public. Usually, it is just the local diner for breakfast or the Friday's sort of place, but every now and then we go out with her for sushi or to the fancy Italian in town. I just don't go at prime time and I'm prepared to take a lot of walks.

 

I wholeheartedly agree that it's important that children learn how to behave in public, whether in a restaurant or whatever.

I also agree that if they don't behave, the parents need to deal accordingly. I have become much more tolerable since I became an Aunt. Every year, we take my 2 nieces (2 1/2 and 4 1/2) to Ruth's Chris for dinner. So far, they have been fine and I always appreciate it when a restaurant seats us in an appropriate spot in the dining room that would cause the least amount of interruption to the other diners.

 

Newborn with a warm bottle should not be at an "upscale" restaurant.

Take 'em to Olive Garden.