Posted on 08/15/2006 6:24:16 AM PDT by steve-b
For Cindy Nooney's 3-year-old twin boys, playing with the Thomas the Train set at their local bookstore in Southern California is a major thrill. Jack and Sam push Thomas, Arthur and friends down the track, they run around the table, jump up and down — and, of course, they squeeeaal.
Nooney expects as much in the children's section of the store. But on a recent afternoon, she was surprised by an employee who confronted her, calling her darling Jack a tyrant.
"He was a little loud but this is a children's section," says Nooney. "They run a noisy, cavernous bookstore but they don’t want kids to make any noise? It just seems ridiculous and leads me to believe that they don't want kids, they want silent kids."
The bookstore is not the only place that likes quiet, controlled children — and isn't afraid to say so. Across the nation, there are signs of a low-burning uprising against children supposedly behaving badly in public.
Eateries from California to Massachusetts have posted signs on doors and menus saying "We love children, especially when they are tucked in chairs and well behaved" or "Kids must use indoor voices." In North Carolina an online petition was started last year to establish child-free restaurants — the petition loosely compared dining with children to dining with cigarette smoke....
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
If you go to "family restaurants" then you will dine with families which typically means loud children. If you go to more expensive restaurants then you will usually see few, if any, children and the ones you see will typically be better behaved. (the well-to-do parents won't tolerate the little darlings embarrassing them in public)
There seem to be a lot of kids raised without the parents ever setting any limits. Complain to the parents about, oh, say, syrup poured down your back in a restaurant just for instance, and they glower at you and imply you're a grouch for not enjoying the whole thing. The screaming during dinner or a movie is not exactly pleasant either. (I'm old enough to remember when theaters had "crying rooms" where parents could take unruly children or crying babies so the rest of the theater would not be bothered--or deafened--by the din.)
supposedely behaving badly in public? I think what we are seeing is a bit of a natural backlash against the inevitible result of the abdication of discipline in our society for the last 30 years or so.
LOL...GMTA...and we even bolded the exact same words.
I agree that children should be well-behaved in public, but if you put a big Thomas-the-Tank-Engine display in the middle of your store and invite children to play on it, you're going to get some squealing and excitement. It's not reasonable. If the bookstore is going to be a place for quiet, take out the things that encourage three-year-old boys to get excited.
Ping
you ain't gonna like this title!
I wish that were true. In my experience, some of the wealthiest folks have the worst kids, and they bring them to the expensive restaurants. Some of the farmers in our area tend to have the best-behaved kids--we sometimes go to a place that serves good food for a low price, a real no-frills kind of place, and are seldom bothered by screeching little monsters.
But go to the "in-spots" in Norman or OKC--well, bring your earplugs, and prepare to have kids running into you, spilling food on you, and parents glower at you when you indicate you don't like it.
(According to an e-mail going around, this was voted the Best Commercial Ever in Europe).
Lesbo or not, I'd have to agree. Grocery stores, Wal-Marts, Targets, even upscale department stores and restaurants are becoming "child havens". The "parent(s)" let the child run around the store and sometimes restaurants while they shop or eat. The rest of us have to put up with their brats while we pay exorbatant prices to eat at "fine dining" places. Here in Florida, it's especially bad "in season". The winter is much more enjoyable without the bathing suit kiddie-crowds...........
It's rare that I find an adult even capable of reaching the decible level of a screeching child. In the defense of the children, however, I'd also like to say they're only doing what their parents condone--and in some cases, the tots are too young to understand how to behave in a restaurant or a movie, especially at a movie, because that's a couple of hours minimum, a long time to have to sit quietly for a wee one. This is where the concept of "babysitter" should be considered.
OMG LOL!
A couple weeks ago, I was shopping at the local Ross. The loud speaker was begging parents to take control of their children. When a child walked in front of me and threw a hanger, I asked the grandmother to please watch him. The next thing I knew, the mother was confronting me and telling me that it was just a baby. Well if it is just a baby, why is he allowed to run wild in the store? By the way the local Ross store has a staggering amount of broker merchasdise. Wonder why?
Children running wild costs store owners money and make everything cost more. People please control your children in the store, or leave them home. If they start screaming or misbehaving, take them out of the store. It is really simple to teach a child proper behavior. You just don't allow the bad behavior to continue.
Oh, for the good old days where corporal punishment by ANY adult close enough to take a swipe at you was the norm. If I or my 5 brothers and sisters were ever caught 'cutting up' in public, we would be summarily smacked by the closest adult at hand - no questions asked or answered. Then we would be marched to our parents where we would be smacked - IN PUBLIC - again! Somehow we managed to survive our childhood intact. I see similar situations now and yearn for the opportunity to introduce the little brat into the world of limitations on behavior.
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