Kids bringing fast food into restaurants: What do you think?

[Robin Garr]

A pal in Memphis sent me this link from the Commercial-Appeal's dining blog. She's horrified, and I pretty much am, too. What do you think? Is it reasonable to allow picky kids to bring fast food into a nicer restaurant where their parents are expecting a "real" dinner? Or should the kids learn to be adventurous whether they like it or not ... or be left home with a sitter?

http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/whini ... right.html

Is this right?
By Jennifer Biggs on May 10, 2010 9:35 AM

... I only went to a restaurant once last week. After an exhausting Friday, we decided to run up to Guadalupana for a quick bite. When we were leaving, we passed a dad going in with two kids--and two bags of fast food.

Groan. I mean, come on. This is a Mexican restaurant we're talking about, not some place that only serves raw oysters or tofu. Ever heard of a quesadilla?

I don't want to be judgmental. Dad alone, Friday night--it could be he sees his kids once a week and doesn't want to fight over food. They could be lactose intolerant (though there are non-cheese items on the menu), or it could just be unfortunate for the kids that they're not getting exposed to new foods.

Thoughts, anyone? I'm especially interested in hearing from parents of young kids.

It's unacceptable. If your child is not willing to eat a restaurant's food, then you should dine there when you can get a sitter.

Well my perspective may be a bit skewed. I have an almost 3 yr old with Sensory Processing Disorder. He is very picky with what he eats. Getting him to eat something new basically means you have to hold him down and pry his mouth open. He's just decided to only eat what he knows (though it's an odd variety). So basically, I take his own food with him everywhere we go eat. I usually try to order his juice/milk there so I'm getting him something. Sometimes I feel a bit embarassed telling the server that I've brought his own food..but it is what it is. I have never taken food in from somewhere else though..just homemade things, prepackaged food, etc.
My feelings have definitely changed since becoming Ben's mom...You never know what child may have what issues. My child looks perfectly "normal" but has developmental things that you can't see on the outside. So you never know!
*I guess that means we wont be going to the Blind Pig anytime soon Getting a sitter is a whole other ball game.

If you have special needs for your child and you bring particular food from home it's a different story. I'm talking about bringing in a happy meal or something.

I guess I don't see the difference of me bringing out a container of green beans, and a pb &honey sandwich in a plastic baggie and someone bringing in McDonalds. My son is in love with fries, so if that makes him happy then I'll do what I can do to get him to eat.
I agree with you though about kids needing to be adventerous. I was raised in a meat & potatoes house and didn't get to try a lot of things until I left home. I offer my son pretty much everything I eat, and I get rejected every time..haha. But maybe someday he'll come around. Is it bad that I tell him that fruit is candy?

We can make a burger and fries too

The fries he'd be down with, but the burger would be on the floor!

I am of the opinion that restaurant owners and other patrons should shut up about this issue.

I typically find that people who aren't understanding of this either don't have or don't like children. Often both.

Children can be picky and unreasonable. They decide or refuse to eat almost anything based on a whim. My daughter used to hate mac and cheese. Now it's all she wants to eat. Your taste buds change (and reduce in number) as your grow. The change is most prominent in your early years. At a young age, bitter flavors are very prominent (thus the general dislike of vegetables). That mellows as you get older. It is unreasonable to expect a child to like the same things adults like. Often the flavors we think are mild are very strong to a child.

Secondly, Is it fair to ask all parents to either force feed their children or to give up eating out because of their children? Hiring a babysitter almost doubles the cost of going out to eat. Suddenly my $60 meal cost me $60 plus $30-$40 for a babysitter. Do I want to pay $100 for $60 worth of food? Do you want to hear me arguing with my now hungry and angry child about what they are having to eat?

If my child is well behaved and I want something they won't eat... who am I hurting by bringing along something they enjoy? They don't take up extra space. They don't cause a problem, and the business owner is selling a meal to someone they would otherwise not be able to have as a customer. My wife and I would often buy our daughter a drink and desert wherever we ate so she was a paying patron.

As an adult, I was eating out at a place I really enjoyed, and I didn't always make sound nutritional choices. Should I not allow my daughter the same experience? Is a Happy Meal worse for her than Calamity Kate's Border Benedict is for me? Heck, it's probably better.

I think it's funny that restaurant owners get bent about this issue when they usually put exactly 3 seconds into formulating their children's menu. How about developing interesting dishes that take into account the different tastes and needs of a child? And (God forbid) doing do at a reasonable price. Why should I pay you $8 for frozen chicken fingers when I can get the same thing at McDonalds for $4?

If you can't be bothered to take the time to be worried about ALL of your patrons, then shut up when they don't want to eat your food and be happy I still do.

We have had adults bring in food from the ballpark, which has never ceased to amaze me-- way more times than I wished. And people bringing in a happy meal or kfc for their kids happens as well. My feelings are that you are in our restaurant, and we try to give you the best service regardless if your bring something in for your kids. The adults bringing food is bizarre, or their beer, and I have asked them to drink their beer outside before ordering one of our beers. I'm happy for any family to enjoy their time in Brownings, and if they need to bring something with them to make their kids happy, no worries from here.

I personally think it's wrong to bring in food from another restaurant. You wouldn't bring in your own thermos of iced tea if you didn't like what the restaurant made or you thought it was too expensive. Why should it be any different bring something in for your child? If they don't like the food in a certain restaurant go someplace else or else hire a babysitter so you can go there.

The only possible exception I see to this is for a child with special dietary requirements. In this case I would see it acceptable to bring in food from home (but not another restaurant).

I think that Chris's reply is unduly harsh. "Just shut up about this issue" seems to oppose the spirit of the forum. No one would advocate for parents to give up eating out unless they wanted to pay the additional money for a babysitter, but I think it's OK for restaurants and patrons to have and express opinions about how they would like to deal with the issue of picky kids. Bringing in bags of fast food for picky kids seems a bit much to me.

I can understand where Megan is coming from, your child has unique needs. Most kids are just picky. If the kid has allergies or various medical conditions, a Happy Meal is probably the last thing they should be eating anyways.

A lot of my friends are in the mentality of giving in to their kid being super finicky and have chicken nuggets at every meal. "It's the only thing they'll eat" "It's better they eat something rather than nothing" My parents wouldn't tolerate that and my friends parent's didn't either, obviously we didn't starve to death and most of us found that we could eat a few other things...I'm not sure why it's becoming so common to let a 2 year old dictate their diet. I also know that these same friends will run by McD's on the way to a restaurant to appease the kids rather than be the parent and make them try different things at home. One of my friend's was at least considerate enough to have her daughter eat in the car beforehand, nothing like the smell of Krystal's to ruin a perfectly good meal for everyone in a 20' radius!

Having worked in a restaurant, I only saw a few Happy Meals come in over the years and management usually didn't care, the profit is in the paren'ts orders anyways. The restaurant was primarily outdoors and largely americana food so the smell of fries wasn't going to be too noticeable. But I think, as a consumer, I'd be a bit annoyed if I were at a nice Italian place enjoying the aromas of roasted tomatoes and basil and someone brought in french fries.

For the record, I don't have kids, I generally like them...most of the one's I don't, have bad parents. I do have a picky husband, a product of similar thinking as my friends now have, I don't tolerate it from him either. I have babysat for numerous kids and even the "picky" ones can find something to eat anywhere, even if it means ordering at full price.

I can understand where Megan is coming from, your child has unique needs. Most kids are just picky. If the kid has allergies or various medical conditions, a Happy Meal is probably the last thing they should be eating anyways.

A lot of my friends are in the mentality of giving in to their kid being super finicky and have chicken nuggets at every meal. "It's the only thing they'll eat" "It's better they eat something rather than nothing" My parents wouldn't tolerate that and my friends parent's didn't either, obviously we didn't starve to death and most of us found that we could eat a few other things...I'm not sure why it's becoming so common to let a 2 year old dictate their diet. I also know that these same friends will run by McD's on the way to a restaurant to appease the kids rather than be the parent and make them try different things at home. One of my friend's was at least considerate enough to have her daughter eat in the car beforehand, nothing like the smell of Krystal's to ruin a perfectly good meal for everyone in a 20' radius!

Having worked in a restaurant, I only saw a few Happy Meals come in over the years and management usually didn't care, the profit is in the paren'ts orders anyways. The restaurant was primarily outdoors and largely americana food so the smell of fries wasn't going to be too noticeable. But I think, as a consumer, I'd be a bit annoyed if I were at a nice Italian place enjoying the aromas of roasted tomatoes and basil and someone brought in french fries.

For the record, I don't have kids, I generally like them...most of the one's I don't, have bad parents. I do have a picky husband, a product of similar thinking as my friends now have, I don't tolerate it from him either. I have babysat for numerous kids and even the "picky" ones can find something to eat anywhere, even if it means ordering at full price.

Exactly.

I think that Chris's reply is unduly harsh. "Just shut up about this issue"

Harsh ?...I dunno. Perhaps.

Personally, when it comes to dining out, there's not a lot that irks me more than having to listen to someone's misbehaving child at the next table over...So I'm for anything that will shut the little curtain climbers the hell up and let me enjoy my meal.

It should also be noted that we didn't start harping on this, we just answered a question.