Parents not taking care of their children in a restaurant

Went into the ladies bathroom. 3 or 4 'four' year old boys were running around, crawling under the stalls. (So much activity, couldn't tell at first.) One of the doors was almost closed, so I thought the poor woman 'managing' them was in there. But no. A dining room manager comes in and saw them and said they had been having the worst time with their parents because of these kids. I offered to say something to them because the boys could get hurt - boys do that - so they wouldn't get mad at the restaurant or sue if something happened to the boys.
Then she leaves and the father comes in. So I'm in the bathroom with this man and these boys. He got rid of all but one who wouldn't leave! He yelled at them for not going into the men's bathroom.
Wow! Glad I was on the other side of the restaurant/bar.
What do you do?
We left not long after that, so I don't know how it ended.

Where you by chance at TGI Fridays on Linn Station on Saturday evening?

I would have said something to the parent(s) if for no other reason that letting small children go off alone can lead to worse consequences than a scraped knee. Can you imagine if someone with less than honorable intentions had followed those kids and one or all of them were taken? Parents that cannot be bothered to go with their kids to the restroom should keep them at home. If it is any comfort, the boys were safer, statistically, in the ladies room. I have seen the consequences of parental inattention, I will never forget any of them - so I am a "buttinski" and have been told to mind my own business on more than one occasion, but I do not want to ever see or hear about these (from my co-workers) things again.

jumps off soapbox.....

If it were me, I woulda taken a few pictures of these children with my cell phone. When the "parent" asked what the heck I was doing, I woulda said "I'm doing a study on behaviorally challenged children and their moronic do-nothing parents and I intend to post the pictures of these little toilet water lapping yard apes on my website".

Of course you also could also have ran out of the rest room yelling something about the guy and/or kids "groping" you. Probably woulda caused you a bit of embarrassment in the short term (what with the cops showing up and all) but provided the guy had a paying job, in the end it might have earned you a couple dozen "large" to buy yourself something nice.

Ya gotta think quick and mean on this kinda stuff.

whoa whoa whoa.... (as I’m getting too involved with this forum lately, I’ll keep it brief)

This is all - one way to look at it. (haha- you grinches)
and yet another way would be - isn’t it a kids job to act crazy, break things, be out of control, and cause civil unrest. Anyone want to argue that it stimulates learning? And at that age - It shows that the behavior - is natural. So why is it bad? They don’t think that it is, and obviously are not embarrassed by it. So why should you be? Is it really that disturbing to see children being happy? I guess I need someone to explain to me why we hold children to a standard that is so foreign to everything happening chemically in their bodies in public. I love to watch kids get out of control.... it’s one of the few things that makes me happy in this world.

I actually applaud those parents for not taking it so seriously. I wish more families would bring their little ones to my place. It gives me an excuse to act just like them....

My kids are so proper and quiet in restaurants....and I’ve always equated it to them being boring.

Went into the ladies bathroom. 3 or 4 'four' year old boys were running around, crawling under the stalls.

Ma'am,
This is what pepper spray and Tasers are for. Joshing a little bit, but only a very little bit. My wife notes when she was one of three kids her parents more than once, when they were being boisterous, just got up and said, "All right, we're leaving". They didn't get to go out to a place to eat or shopping in a toy store or whatever until they had a period of spotless behavior on the homefront. I was a good kid but if I talked to loud my parents came down on me to respect people having conversations at neighboring tables.
There should be a zero tolerance policy on this. Actually, maybe the parents need Tasered to shock some sense into them. Worth a try!

Do parents not realize how DANGEROUS it is for kids to be running around a restaurant (or restroom-ick!)
Servers and bussers with trays cannot see small objects like children directly underneath them. I've witnessed some terrible accidents because of this.
Or perhaps the chldren are being used to generate an extra income when the restaurant is sued.
IMHO children should be strapped into their seats. And I'm not really kidding.

whoa whoa whoa.... (as I’m getting too involved with this forum lately, I’ll keep it brief)

This is all - one way to look at it. (haha- you grinches)
and yet another way would be - isn’t it a kids job to act crazy, break things, be out of control, and cause civil unrest. Anyone want to argue that it stimulates learning? And at that age - It shows that the behavior - is natural. So why is it bad? They don’t think that it is, and obviously are not embarrassed by it. So why should you be? Is it really that disturbing to see children being happy? I guess I need someone to explain to me why we hold children to a standard that is so foreign to everything happening chemically in their bodies in public. I love to watch kids get out of control.... it’s one of the few things that makes me happy in this world.

I actually applaud those parents for not taking it so seriously. I wish more families would bring their little ones to my place. It gives me an excuse to act just like them....

My kids are so proper and quiet in restaurants....and I’ve always equated it to them being boring.

LOL!
Okay, Jayson- you are on! I may have to bring our 6 year old into 732 just so you'll have an excuse to mis-behave.
Damn. I just remembered- he's one of those boring well-behaved kids....

Deb

On the flip side of the O.P....I had met a few forumytes for a business meeting at Captains Quarters recently and following the meeting, rather than run home and cook dinner, I decided to call my lovely bride and just have her meet me there. We were seated in a booth next to an extended family celebrating someones birthday; I believe there were three couples and at least 4 or 5 children between (say) 3 and 7. I have to admit I was expecting the worst but as it turned out my apprehension was unfounded. These were the most well mannered and well behaved children I have ever shared a dining room with and I made a point of complimenting both them and their parents on the way out the door.

These were the most well mannered and well behaved children I have ever shared a dining room with and I made a point of complimenting both them and their parents on the way out the door.

I just wanted to say thanks to Steve P for complimenting the kids on their behavior. Whenever that has happened to us, we are bursting with pride, and so are our little guys (age 6 and 3). We are pretty careful about taking them to places where normal "kid stuff" is tolerated, but we don't stand for atrocious manners at home and that goes double for dining out!

I agree with Jayson that it's fun to watch kids be kids - I'd just rather they be kids at someplace like KaZoing where they can bounce on inflatables until they drop. Kids are expected to sit quietly at school all day and get very little time to run and be energetic (my son gets a 12 minute recess period). The issue often arises when parents linger far too long and leave the kids unsupervised. Take them to Incredible Dave's if you want to sit for longer than a standard mealtime, or take the party to someone's house. I have also seen parents bringing more handheld video games for kids but I'm really not a fan of the trend.

I know I was a bit harsh in my previous post but unruly kids in restaurants make me crazy.
On the other hand I love having well behaved kids with their parents. There is no better way to learn, dare I say, manners than dining in a restaurant.

We had a very uplifting thing happen to us at of all places Barbara Lee's! Had a nice breakfast with my Mom and 4 year old. The kid was being a kid, kept on turning around in the booth, we keep on turning him back, telling him to use his inside voice, the usual....we get our bill, the server says the guy in the back gave her $10 towards our bill for breakfast! Never said a word to us, just told the server he appreciated the way we dealt with our child in the restaurant. Wish I knew who it was, a random act of kindness that brightened our day for certain. I'm glad that your kids were given compliments on their manners! An energetic child is a beautiful thing, but manners are a good compliment to the energy.

Someone sent me this today...