Posted on 02/07/2013 10:14:50 AM PST by Morgana
A Washington couple were left stunned after their server handed them the bill for their family's dinner - and they saw they had been given a $4 discount for their 'Well Behaved Kids'.
Laura King and her husband took their three children, aged two, three and eight, to an Italian restaurant in Poulsbo to enjoy an early-evening meal last Friday.
As they tucked into their feast of pizza, pasta and mushroom ragu, the family discussed planets, racecars, zebra jokes, and commented on the warm decor of the restaurant, Mrs King said.
'They were just being their normal selves,' she told Today.com of her children. 'Our server came to our table and just really thanked us for having exceptionally behaved children.'
After the server brought them a bowl of ice cream to share, they received the tab - and saw it had been discounted by $4 for 'Well Behaved Kids'.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Awesome story. Pics of the lovely family at the link.
In some cases the brats are the parents. Wonder if Chuckie Cheese will start some sort of disount program for parents that don’t get into a dust up.
I bet the parents know how to spank.
Awesome! I wonder if they charge 10% for misbehaved kids? :-)
All we ever got were compliments. I am biased but I have to admit that my children were and still are very well-behaved, particularly in public. Mrs. CommerceComet deserves most of the credit.
I remember being a hyperactive tot when my grandparents took me to the lunch counter in an old W.T. Grant store. There was a sticker on the children’s menu that said “We Love Kids!”
When the waitress came to our table my grandmother pointed to that and asked her “So, do you love kids?” This waitress, who was obviously having a bad day, flashed me the look of death and snapped “Only if they’re good!”
Scared the living crap out of me. I was on my best behavior in restaurants for the remainder of my childhood.
I live in this area. I know the restaurant well even though I haven’t ate there for many years. I will be going again soon. This is an awesome idea. This is a much better idea than a belligerent child surcharge which I have advocated for.
Our local Chuckie Cheese limited the sale of alcoholic beverages. This has seemed to calm down the patrons.
Can’t wait to see the +$4 on the bill that says “poorly behaved brats” and the subsequent outcry and lawsuit.
Cant count how many times been disturbed in public by annoying brats and the idiotic “parents” who refuse to control them .......
One of our local restaurants banned children under 6. Caused white a flap, but it seems the vast majority of patrons supported the idea. The owner says that since the ban, business has quadrupled.
I took my grandson to Chuck E. Cheese once. I endorse Ambrose Bierce’s definition:
Once: Too much
One of our local restaurants banned children under 6. Caused quite a flap, but it seems the vast majority of patrons supported the idea. The owner says that since the ban, business has quadrupled.
Beautiful family. Mom’s a real looker.
Ahh...limited as in no more malt liquor I presume
Good to see. I would also support an extra surcharge for unruly children. Recently while eating out, my family and I were “treated” to a family dining with children who considered the restaurant a playground, all to the laughs of the parents. At one point one of the children ran into and broke off a piece of the window blinds, while the parents did a slight gasp and said to the child “It’s ok, don’t worry about it”. If I were the owner, I would have added the cost to repair or replace the damaged blinds to the bill.
That’s because so many other kids are undisciplined, spoiled, selfish brats who will grow up to be good democrats.
For the past 6 years, I worked as a docent in a museum and historical site. Never having worked with children before, I had no idea how horrible they can be! School groups came through hundreds at a time and the teachers and chaperones just let them run wild. Parents did the same! After a few months, I said it was a good thing I had my children before working there or they would never have been born! (I totally realize it’s the parents’ fault they are so incorrigible. My children weren’t angels, but they were not allowed to act like that and they knew it!)
Do they accept EBT cards?
The mom said that she and her husband make sure they have a family dinner every night.
Letting them eat in the family room in front of the TV by themselves does not socialize children so that they even know correct behavior is.
If they are used to eating and interacting with adults and conversing with them around the table at home, transferring that behavior to a restaurant table is a no brainer.
It really is that simple.
My kids are so annoying, we sit them at their own table.
Do take your young children to fine restaraunts in non-peak dining times. Teach your children to be part of conversation and listening. Treat them as adults and with interest and they will magically transform into dinner companions. Do not take your kids to chain places, fast food places, and diners. Everyone there treats them like little children. So that's what you'll get!
A restaurant did that? As the father of a three year-old, I would like to say:
It's a free country. I won't be going to that restaurant with my family, but other people might not go to one of my favorite places because they don't like restaurants with kids. I think that's all great! Choice is a beautiful thing. There are plenty of places that make it their speciality to serve families with kids of all ages.
I really have a problem with people who expect every business to cater to them no matter the circumstances. For all those gays who want to get married, for example, why just not patronize Christian bakeries? Plenty of bakeries will make whatever you want.
Table ?
If that bowl in the corner is good enough for my dog, it’s good enough for my kids.
/s
It amazes me when I see parents take a baby stick him in a high chair then proceed to ignore him and are astonished that the child acts up.
We took our daughter to her first restaurant at a little over a month old. We always set her in between us and we made sure she had something to keep her occupied and we kept engaging her through the whole meal. If for some reason she cried we couldn't get her to settle down her Mom would take her either outside or a waiting area or other part of the restaurant where there were few people. (No one else could take her because she would panic if she couldn't be near Mom in a strange place.)
She rarely cried (she was a fairly happy baby) as she grew restaurants become a fun activity she would color and we would play counting games and color games and name things as she learned to talk. We made a trip to the restaurant natural AND we made sure we reinforced good behavior and punished bad behavior.
As she got bigger we got her a fold up booster chair. When she seen us pack it up she knew were going out to eat and she would go get her restaurant pack. In it we kept crayons and colored pencils and some small dolls and a few books.
Its really not hard but its like anything else you got to think it through and prepare. Friends of ours had trouble with their kids being total brats in a restaurant and they asked us how come our Daughter was so well behaved. We showed them our little kit and we explained that they would need to go through a few bad trips to break the patterns they had put in place.
They managed it in 3 trips and their kids never acted badly again. The problem I see with most parents around our area that have trouble with their kids (and its sadly a large majority) is they don't seem to really want to be parents. They have kids then proceed to ignore them and are astonished when the act badly.
In Laredo, Texas, I’ve seen kids running wild in the bar areas of some restaurants. I’ve never seen that anywhere else, but Laredo is becoming more like Mexico every day.
Kids = the reason I do my grocery shopping in the middle of the night.
If my three year-old did that, he would be taken right outside until he calms down. We’ve had to do that a number of times in the last few months, but he’s starting to get the message.
I only ask that non-parents understand that kids aren’t born perfect, and some of us are trying to do our best to discipline our kids and not disturb other patrons. We can take the child out of the restaurant, but it’s hard to prevent him from screaming as we take him out. To all other patrons, I apologize for the brief disturbance.
I like your idea, as the mom of a soon-to-be four year old we haven’t gone out to eat much because hubby and I agreed when she was an infant we didn’t want to take her to restaurant until she was old enough to feed herself and old enough to behave. I have taken her to several kid-friendly places and so far so good. Next time we go someplace, I will make sure I have a kit like yours to take with us. Having said that we live in a VERY rural area so there aren’t many restaurants to choose from.
Most people who complain about children are usually Empty nesters. Children remind them of better times when they were young and had children, and it subconsciously makes them upset. It’s better for them to be out of sight out of mind. The whole “children should be seen but not heard” generation.
The mother made a feeble show of trying to shut him up, but I got the impression that this was a normal ocurrance for them.
If parents are getting discounts for well behaved kids, the airline should have moved me to first class and billed the ticket to this mother.
Hope this doesn’t lead to lawsuits against the restaurant for not providing the discount to ALL families with kids.
I remember when going to a restaurant as a kid...if I acted up, my butt got sore quickly from parental discipline. These days they send parents to jail doing that
These parents should be commended for their behaved kids
“Spare the rod...spoil your dinner”.
I really like the positive reinforcement of these parents. It is a hard job to parent and any support and recognition of a job well done is much needed for parents of younger ones. Hopefully it helps them continue the good job they are doing.
We generally received a lot of compliments for how well behaved our children were in public and at other peoples homes. Like someone else posted, Mrs. Copaliscrossing deserves all the credit!
This restaurant must be forced to be more socially inclusive, and automatically give ALL childless couples a $4 discount for similarly contributing to the ambience that the well-behaved children did.
-PJ
So, as a parent of twins, both with severe autism, we can never eat out at a restaurant, on the chance that one or the other (or both) will have an "autism moment" lest they get labeled as "brats" and us as bad parents accordingly?
Devious? Yes, but it worked every time!
This is newsworthy?
Yep.
Now that I have kids, I know the real score.
When I hear a baby crying on an airplane I think, “WTF do you thing babies do?”
No biggie.
Anybody that doesn’t understand should off themselves because they were squallering kids once, too.
Apologies to all... my #39 was a bit aggressive and defensive. My point is that while there are lots of examples of bad parenting out there, don’t just assume that every child that acts up on the one occasion you see him or her is a case of chronic bad parenting.
Forget the children, here in Seattle, I’d be happy if people stopped bringing their dogs in grocery stores.
I will sometimes tease the kids by asking "Didn't your mommy ever tell you not to talk to strangers?" to which they will often reply something like "She's not a stranger, she's a nice lady, just like my Nana!" Mrs. Vigilanteman, of course, eats it up and has more fun than the kids.
“So, as a parent of twins, both with severe autism, we can never eat out at a restaurant, on the chance that one or the other (or both) will have an “autism moment” lest they get labeled as “brats” and us as bad parents accordingly?”
Basically Yes.
I had the opportunity to view on youtube a woman who’s son is very autistic. This woman had posted thousands of videos over the years. Often she needed 2:1 help controlling the lad who was in his 20’s and quite strong. These videos were an eye opener and I will say I don’t envy this woman at all. I will say this however, I don’t want to be near or have my kid near her kid or any kids like those because I am afraid of these people and their “meltdowns”. I can’t tell by these videos what causes them or when they occur. I also don’t want the risk of me or mine being hurt by a “meltdown”.
And any decent parent would have offered to pay for it and then put the child to work to pay it off. After a few weeks of mowing the lawn ect. with nothing to show for it they should learn pretty quick.
Waitress gets the extra tip, bus boy cleans up the mess?
Illegal where I am, unless it's a service animal.
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