Posted on 04/01/2017 4:27:35 PM PDT by Trump20162020
This seems to be a perennial argument in the food service industry but it never fails to attract my interest. The Washington Post picked up the story of an an upscale Italian restaurant in North Carolina called Caruso’s. They had run into a number of issues with parents bringing young and too often horribly behaved children into the eatery for dinner who then wound up annoying the rest of the clientele. As they tell the story, the straw which broke the camel’s back was a young girl with an i-Pad who was playing videos at full volume despite being asked to turn it down (or off) and the parents were completely failing to discipline her or resolve the situation. Shortly after that they imposed a ban on bringing children under the age of five into the establishment.
The typical howls of outrage from some parents began immediately, but there was another reaction as well.
The ban — conceived by the restaurant’s owner, Pasquale Caruso — has led to a dramatic increase in reservations, said Nunez, who said Caruso’s has seen a spike in diners, from about 50 per day to around 80.
“Banning children has always been a topic in the industry and every owner says, ‘I wish I could do it,’” he said. “Our owner has the full support of the staff. We work here to make a living, too, and we support our owner 100 percent.”
Good for them. Too often you see only one side of this debate in the press and it centers on the parents who are complaining and saying that families are being stigmatized or punished or what have you.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
maybe it does, W. and you sound very defensive.
I can NOT want to eat with someone’s kids and that does not make me a bad person.
Sorry u got butthurt. Actually i am not sorry, snowflake.
>>Childen under 10 do NOT believe in an upscale restaurant. Period.
I say it depends on the children AND the parents, but true for the vast majority. I have no criticism for the restaurant in question, and have some close friends for whom this move would rocket this restaurant to the top of their “to try” list.
Not all children are brats, but all brats are children.
So true. That is real love and parenting.
That’s why the restaurant has an obligation to the other diners to insist on proper decorum in the restaurant. Restaurants throw out drunks who are disturbing other diners. Its an unpleasant task but a necessary one. The same should be true of any diners causing a disruption.
If a particular restaurant is having enough problems will unruly children I can see why they would have the temptation to institute age limits. It would be better to just quietly ask a group to leave but the restaurant gets to decide if there have been too many disruptive occasions with children and they are tired of dealing with it. I think its like throwing the baby out with the bathwater because many customer families are courteous and responsible diners.
Yes, that is what happens with a child when he has been properly taught to behave. They will get squirmy, and that is quite normal,but they need to be reminded the way your friend does it.
I know about big families, as I was raised as one of 9 children. And my parents always received compliments regarding our behavior.
Upscale typically means you get your ass kissed and there’s no screaming brats.
OMG how I wish that were true!!!!
“On slow nights, there was always one of their kids doing homework at one of the tables. “
I love those kind of places and from my experience it’s a sign of some tasty cooking.
Many people with kids take offense at this and impugn people who don’t want to take the chance they are going to shell out a relatively large sum of money to access a memorable experience, and have it spoiled because little kids are chasing each other around the dining room as the parents either ignore it, or look on smilingly because they think their kids are being cute.
There are some parents who understand this, and if they can’t control their children, one of the parents takes the child outside because they feel shame at the undisciplined behavior of their children...because they recognize it reflects poorly on them.
Problem is, if the management doesn’t ask them to quiet down or leave, that puts you in a position to speak to the management, who will likely go over and ask the parents to compel their children to behave themselves. (Who is going to approach a possible defensive parent directly?)
Three things will happen if management approaches the child:
1.) The parents get indignant and make a scene with management. This can boil over into social media, personal campaigns to degrade restaurant reviews, and even outright legal action.
2.) The parents get their children to behave. For a few minutes. Then they are back at it, and if complained to, the management will say they already spoke to them.
3.) The parents get their children to behave and things are quiet henceforth.
Like the anecdote about a football coach explaining how a passing play in football has three possible outcomes, and only one of them is good, that applies here as well. (Note that the option where the management asks the diners who won’t or can’t control their children’s behavior to leave. That is because it isn’t an option these days. Doesn’t happen, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who observes modern behavior in our society)
Thing is, we have become a society where if people criticize the actions of someone’s children, the default response by a significant amount of parents is to vigorously defend their child whether they are in the right or the wrong. And if a parent thinks it is cute to have their kids running circles around diner’s tables playing tag, it is more likely the parent will get offended if someone asks them politely to control their children.
So, instead of reaffirming your 30 year marriage with your spouse on your anniversary, looking deep into each other’s eyes across a candlelit table while drinking a glass of wine, you have kids running around your table like children playing “cowboys and indians” and you and your spouse are the cowboys tied to a tree while the kids are the indians.
” I tried the same technique with my own grandkids. Didn’t accomplish anything at all.”
I scolded a little kid knocking produce onto the floor in the grocery. He looked at me and said “you’re not my mom”.
And one more thing-if you go to a less “upscale” restaurant like a Chilis or something like that, behavior by other people’s children becomes either entertaining, irrelevant, or both (unless they crash into your table)
That isn’t what we are talking about here. Everyone who is reasonable understands context.
If you make a case of it in Chili’s or a place like that, your likely ARE wound too tight or dislike children (again, as long as they aren’t smashing into you)
That is a part of the problem. When many of us were children, and an adult told us to behave, even if not our parents, we usually did.
And if we gave lip back to them, we were going to get it from our own parents if they found out.
There are still plenty of respectful and well behaved kids out there. But there are also those who aren’t. What is different is the response of the parents in the cases of those who aren’t.
Those parents were most likely brats themselves.
Last Sunday I was going up to Communion and passed a family where the kid, he was probably 7, was playing a video game on his tablet. The sound was off but come on.
See, I have zero problem with a restaurant banning children. I have children and they do not behave like adults. They can’t, yet. I’d also enjoy going to an adults only restaurant if the food was good. I hate paying for a babysitter and hearing other people’s kids have tantrums.
But in church, if the family wishes to attend, and they have a child who can’t be quiet and sit still for a long time, damn straight you bring toys these days (including electronics if allowed) -— other than in orthodox synagogues where their little voices are welcome as part of life, children seem never welcome in religious services. I’ve been thrown out many times, so that the place can have their hush hush atmosphere and kids with disabilities who can’t be still are relegated to parking lots with one parent while the other parent worships. I don’t think that is fair. One in 30 kids is on the austism spectrum and the families should be welcome inside even if they need electronics to keep their kid respectful in these quiet holy places.
My opinion, but from experience. Churches and synagogues who don’t welcome families with problems aren’t very caring.
Wow. Don’t envy you that experience but by 3 its not to young to understand actions have consequences. By the time he went back to a restaurant he was probably ready to behave so he could be part of the family group on restaurant outings again.
I’ve watched restaurants get destroyed by bratty children. What was a thriving restaurant becomes a place to avoid.
I remember growing up with restaurants that had no one under 21 signs.
Yes!
” There’s no such thing as upscale in my book. It’s all preposterous .”
It’s where adults go to have adult conversations. You wouldn’t understand.
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