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 ...
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!
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