Much better than I could say it.
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.
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)