“We taught our kids how to behave in public at a young age and made sure they had SOMETHING to do while waiting. The consequences of acting up were not going out any more. And they liked going out.
It kept them peaceful and well behaved.”
That is what all parents did in the old days. If you acted up out in public they took your ass home until you could act right. Then you knew not to do that again.
These parents just sit there and ignore their kids bad behavior and are off in another world. It’s like they found out too late they didn’t want to be parents or something and now want out of it.
When our kids were little since all the kid’s activities at church as well as prayer meeting were on Wednesday night.
For a few years, the church, by volunteers, had a very inexpensive but good quality homemade dinner where we could pay a small fee, and we could all eat.
It was a great place (and safe for them and others) for the kids to learn how behave in public and not act like wild animals. And when they were done, they could spend their free time playing with their friends.
But what a great intro to teaching them how to eat out in a public place and being able to take care of discipline issues cause nobody saw anything.