This ought to be good ping.....
Another reason to stay far away from the Boynton Beach mall. I hate that place.
An autistic child was at a party recently I attended. He was very loud and obnoxious and made everyone uncomfortable. I dont know if this was due to the autism or not, but I was glad when he left.
Not enough info. What was the behavior of the kid like? Extremely disruptive, like throwing things, yelling, etc.?
I can’t stand being around brats in public either. If they will not (or cannot, in this case) act appropriate for the venue, they have no business being there.
That new Moon is really kicking in. First it was the JetBlue flight attendant and now this!
Obviously no reason for him to get physical. Not nearly enough info on how disruptive the kid was. Autism as now diagnosed can cover a wide range on ‘the spectrum’.
Now, having said that, I will say that my wife and I never took our children to restaurants until we were sure that they could behave themselves. Families with special needs children have a tougher time of it, but I do think that there is an obligation for ANY parent to make sure that their children won't bother other people.
mean people suck
Braaaaa-vo!
Anyone with kids who goes to a restaurant with a liquor license who isn't prepared to get up and leave if they disturb other diners shouldn't go there. And if they do they go and disturb others, they should be asked to leave.
I like Olive Gardens. I think they serve reasonably sophisticated food at just above fast-food prices. But I cannot understand why they don't have one or two adults only rooms.
ML/NJ
Hmmm? Anyone here want to have dinner next to a person with Tourette Syndrome? I didn’t think so.
So what do you do? Well, I think first, parents with an autistic child or any other disruptive child must own that behavior. Yea, I know its not easy, I had dinner with an autistic child the other night. We all accept it and it works, but we ate at home. They didn’t force strangers to accept it. My friends are too considerate to do that.
The definition of a handicap is that it prevents you from doing certain things, sometimes those things include going out to dinner.
Clearly the other guy was a jerk, but maybe he had an issue too? And then what?
The disgruntled diner would have done better to register his displeasure with the manager on duty, then called the district manager the next day. Or asked for his money back.
As for the father of the autistic kid: find a babysitter and leave the kid at home if he can’t behave. The parents knew their son would have difficulties in this sort of setting, so why gamble and make every patron miserable?
Why parents wish to inflict their little ‘angels’ dreadful behavior on a captive audience is beyond me. In most restaurants, patrons expect food, decent service and an atmosphere condusive to conversation, not the spectacle of a special-needs child that cannot control himself nor of an altercation between two grown men that knew better. And, yes when in a restaurant, I have politely asked the manager on duty to speak to parents of misbehaving children. Asking if they could control their children as I and my party we attempting to enjoy our dinner. Many times, just the act of summoning the manager, is enough to shame the parents into corralling their recalcitrant youngsters. Not kids that fidgeted or played at the table, but kids whose behavior truly warranted it. Call me a b!tch, I’m too old to care.
The guy could have reacted better...However people go to semi-decent sit down restaurants like Olive Garden to enjoy a meal without kids running around screaming and acting nuts. If you want to let your kids run crazy go to Chuck E Cheese............
I can’t stand when you’re eating a meal at a sit down restaurant and some obnoxious kid walks up to your table and starts acting crazy meanwhile the parents aren’t paying any attention....
I hope this guy "Blankenfield" meets Big Bubba in jail and gets a size nine poop chute, that's what this ignorant jackass deserves.
When my oldest was a baby, we went to a rodeo in Laughlin. Afterward, we went to one of the casino restaurants. As another group was being seated, our son gave a squeal of delight, as babies will, and one woman loudly complained about "not another noisy baby". He was very good through the meal, but as we were leaving, my husband and my son had the other customers in the restaurant laughing.
Look, we have all seen instances of parents NOT parenting and disciplining their child that desperately needs verbal and/or physical correction.
The two instances in this story are not two examples of this, but rather of people losing it and getting violent with other people.
A crying baby in a confined space can be irritating, but temporary. But you can’t reason or correct a baby for that. An autistic child may or may not be able to told by parents to calm down or have techniques that can calm them down, but usually strangers raising voices and getting physical with them or their parents is going to make it worse.
I wonder what people who can’t tolerate special needs childrens behavior would say or do when one of their children or grandchildren has something like that. Believe me, I have seen it over and over. My wife and I used to be foster parents to special needs kids.