Posted on 07/13/2011 7:26:05 AM PDT by markomalley
It hasn't been a banner year for the under-6 set.
Starting July 16, McDain's, a Pittsburgh-area restaurant, will ban children under the age of 6 from its dining area. Restaurant owner Mike Vuick said the policy came in response to complaints he'd received from older customers about kids causing a ruckus. In an email to his clientele, Vuick wrote, "We feel that McDain's is a not a place for young children … and many, many times they have disturbed other customers."
A few weeks ago, Malaysia Airlines announced that it would ban infants from flying in the first-class cabin because other passengers had complained about squalling babies. And last February it was rumored that Virgin Atlantic and British Airways had been pressured to consider child-free zones and even child-free planes to appease business travelers who, according to a travel survey, listed unruly children as their No. 1 travel-related complaint.
So, just when did our precious "pets" become everyone else's pet peeves? Are these bans even legal? Apparently yes. Federal law forbids discrimination on racial or religious grounds, but there is no blanket protection for children. For business owners like Vuick that means they can set the rules.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Hmmmm ... I'm an all-too-frequent business traveler. I must be abnormal, though. "Unruly" children on flights don't even make my top ten complaints.
TSA accounts for the top five, and the rest involve boorish adult passengers and moronic airline policies.
Misbehaving stewardesses don't make the top ten either.
Perhaps the survey didn't offer those as choices.
You'd be amazed (or maybe not) at how much this happens. I see it at work all the time.
Girl in the office next to me drops the kid off at daycare before 7am. Works all day, teaches and/or participates in some sort of exercise class every night of the week. Weekends are spent with her girlfriends. Husband has much the same schedule. (I know all this because she's constantly yapping into her #%@#%^#$% cell phone, another topic of discussion on this thread....)
Sez me, if you don't "have time" for the kid, then you don't have the kid. I've met her child, she's a cute, bright little girl. Everytime she comes into the office, she makes a beeline for my desk because a) I've got a bunch of wind-up toys and (more likely) b) I actually speak to her while her mother socializes.
Mrs WBill stays at home. I can't wait to get out of the office and get home to the kids. No idea why someone with children - especially small children - wouldn't feel the same way.
Agreed.
I’m sure it is galling for someone like you who does get a babysitter to go out and have to deal with someone else’s little darings screming and running through the resturant.While it will ruin my night out I always feel more sorry for those who went to the expensive of a babysitter for a few nice hours together to have to deal with it then me who can go home to the quite.
I would setttle for resturants who banned little kids on Friday and Saturaday nights or even one nigth a week.I’d pay an extra few dollars just to go on a nght that wasn guaranteed not to have someone’s kid trying to take food off of my plate....yes this has happened to me before.
My parents owned a restaurant, but it was in a small town. We had a family who came in frequently, in which the parents had been in an accident that impaired their ability to think, and their children were quite precocious and active - not malicious, just a little rowdy for their own and our other customers’ good. After I successfully made their children behave a few times (without laying a finger on them or making threats), I found out that when I wasn’t there, and the children were acting up, their parents would say: “You’d better behave. I heard knittnmom coming around the corner!” and they would behave.
LOL!
Young children do not want to go to an adult restaurant they would much rather go to McDonald’s, it is the parents who do not want to go there because of all the children running around.
These “Parent” should stop blaming everyone else because they themselves are making decisions that are in THEIR best interests.
Possibilities abound ... I can certainly see the survey makers exempting TSA out of political correctness.
I do see many children, of all ages. I just don't see or hear a great deal of misconduct.
FWIW, with the possible exception of Los Angeles my destinations usually would not be considered prime "family vacation" spots.
I'm always on United, and home airport is IAD.
Most households in this country no longer have children under 18 living in them so this is a very good idea to attract the crowds who would like to enjoy their dinners out.
If you were in and out of Orlando, you might find children’s misbehavior coming to your attention more often!
I rarely see children causing a real problem in a restaurant. Maybe we’re just lucky - plus we don’t go out very often.
My biggest complaint is loud music in restaurants. Unless you’ve deliberately chosen a place with a live band, they ought to just turn that ruckus off. Last weekend my husband took our 20-year-old daughter and me out to a place where I had to stuff tissues in my ears to keep my fillings from vibrating. If we’re going to have to scream to be heard, we might as well stay home.
Quite true. In the old days everyone was virtuous and well behaved. If anyone ever did act up, the honest politicians and unicorns would put them back in line. Misbehaving children didn't really take hold until the mid 50s, when rock 'n' roll came along.
I'm convinced that they do it to get you out faster. The quicker they can turn you around the more money they make. Who wants lo linger over a cup of coffee or sit and have a conversation when they're being treated to 140 decibels?
I'm convinced that they do it to get you out faster. The quicker they can turn you around the more money they make. Who wants lo linger over a cup of coffee or sit and have a conversation when they're being treated to 140 decibels?
I’ve heard that said, and it could be right. On the other hand, you’re more likely to pay for a dessert or more beer if you’re not in a hurry to get back to the peace and quiet of your child-filled home.
My alternate theory is that the people working in many restaurants have had loud music turned on constantly since they were young children. They can’t imagine people’s wanting to just talk to one another (that’s why there are all the televisions in the restaurant, too), and their hearing is damaged so that they don’t know how loud it is to people who can actually hear.
Maybe. I just wonder how many diners will actually choose a restuarant because there are no children under 6 allowed. Loud, unruly children who have reached their 6th birthday will still be allowed.
Also, looking longer term, today’s parents of young children are tomorrow’s older folks. If they get used to going to other restaurants, they may not start going to McDain’s when they get older.
I could understand this policy more at a really, fancy restaurant, but this looks like a casual place, and is apparently also a driving range.
Again, I have no problem with the owner making this his policy, as it is his restaurant.
Thus is a resturant on a gof course so yes it is a nice resturnat and not a Mom and Pop dinner.
Those Bama fans are more than likely a product of obtuse parents who let them act up in restaurants when they were children.
I agree that the “background” noise has gotten too loud. I have left clothing stores b/c I can't stand the noise.
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