Fed and not heard

I've been waiting to see if anyone was going to comment on Marsha's most recent article about taking children to restaurants, but since I haven't seen anything I'll jump right in here.

As a mother of 3 year old twins, I have to say that I agree with the points made in the article. We enjoy eating out with our children and have a few independent restaurants that we frequent. We try to go right at 5:00PM and I always carry little diversions in my purse, just in case.

I am a firm believer that parents really need to realize which restaurants are appropriate for children and which ones are not. My husband and I had a date night in November and we went to Z Fusion. We walked in and the first thing that I heard (on a Saturday night at 8PM) was a child's voice. I thought to myself please don't sit us next to the child, please don't sit us next to the child, I rarely get a child free evening at a nice restaurant, please don't sit us next to the child. Well of course we were seated next to the child. As you would expect at 8PM the young child, maybe 2 years old, was not on his best behavior. Who would take their young child to Z Fusion that late on a Sat night. Who would take their child to Z Fusion?

One point that I would like to make is that the server can make all of the difference when it comes to dining with children. We tried The Cafe on Brent St this weekend after the train show at the Convention Center. We were going to take the kids to the Spaghetti Factory across the street but we were there before they opened. I have been wanting to try The Cafe for a long time and we just happened to pick a good day at the right time. The childrens menu was more interesting than most and we were very pleased with the Jimmy Plate that we ordered. It was perfect for two little kids. It was a plate with cheese slices, grapes, celery, carrots, dipping sauce and bread. Our server made sure that we had bread and crackers pretty quickly after we were seated. She brought their food out first. She engaged them and was very considerate to their needs. We got the check quickly and we will definitely be back. Not to mention that the food we ordered was delicious, as well. My husband had the hot brown and he was very happy with that. I had the Chicken Salad Sandwich and it was good, very creamy with some nice crunch from the apple slice that tucked in between the salad and the bread.

I think you missed the thread below: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8907

I do not care where one is dinning, Z Fusion or Outback, it's their kid's behavior that's suspect. If a child is able to be 'perfectly' behaved (for a kid), then take them to Z Fusion or Outback. Simply because a place is not as nice does not give a child carte blanche to scream their head off. I believe it rude of some people to believe children are not able to act better than some adults at dinner. I've been to some 'nice' places where the only thing missing is a Playland and clown.

Annemarie,

As the parent of two, I strongly disagree- you are stereotyping all children as misbehaved. If a child can't sit in their seat and disturbs other diners, obviously they shouldn't be taken to a nice restaurant. But some children are very capable of being well-behaved in a nice restaurant ( better then many adults who are on their cell phones or rude to their server) - particularly if they are exposed to it at an early age.

My teen was exposed at a very early age to nice restaurants, and she did extremely well in them ( sat in her seat, normal voice, patient for food, etc) so it was something we did frequently. My 5 year old, alas, does not have the patience, so we do not take him to fine restaurants, but opt for more kid-friendly/easy environments ( LouLou's, BoomBozz, Carly Rae's, El Nopal, Shogun). He is still required to sit in his seat, no electronics, color quietly while he is waiting for his food. Hopefully, with experience now at these venues, he will graduate to Z Fusion, 732 Social, Bonefish, etc when he gets older ( but trust me- we won't take him until he can behave appropriately. )

Deb

oops, I completely missed the other thread. I should probably refrain from posting while tired. I had been looking for it because I am always interested in what people have to say about this topic. Children dining in restaurants always seems to draw out many opinions.

I can say that I would never take my 2.5 yr old to Z fusion. Especially not at 8pm , but that's me. I'm even self conscious in other places like Applebees and such, because I don't want to disrupt anyone's dinner wether it's finer dining or not. My son is very sweet, but a 2 yr old is a 2 yr old. They're often unpredictable and "dramatic" We tend to go to a lot of places like McAlisters, Panera and Marks Feed Store with him. And I'm with the previous poster...when I go out to a nice place I'd much rather go out childless! Even if that means it's only on rare occasion.

I think some parents just don't care. I was at a movie not too long ago (cannot remember the name, but it was loud and full of explosions and violence) and right in front of me, I noticed a young couple with a baby that could not have been more than a month or two old.

The look of absolute terror in that child's eyes haunts me to this day. No ear plugs, nothing. The child was too frightened to even cry.

The mother looked like she was barely 20, but I still don't give a free pass for youthful ignorance. That child will probably grow up to have a phobia about movie theaters and loud noises and they won't understand the origins. I shudder to imagine what other horrors that mother inflicts upon the child.

Unfortunately the older I get, the more I see non-disciplined kids in restaurants with parents who seem helpless or unwilling to tell their offspring to stay seated and not scream at ear-piercing levels and at all hours of the night too.

I think the most funny and shocking thing I ever saw was at Stonybrook Theater. My husband and I went to see "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut." If you've seen the show, you know what to expect. Some woman had brought her 3 or 4 YOUNG kids to the movie. Either she had never seen the show (not likely) or she didn't quite grasp the "Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" part of the title. The first scene of the movie was a musical number called "Uncle F*cker." Needless to say, that woman took her 3 or 4 kids out of the theater, quickly.

I still remember several years ago, being on a road trip (with a migraine, no less) and stopping for a quick bite, and these kids were running all over the restaurant screaming, hitting each other, kicking everyone's chairs. I had to fight off the urge to hurt someone. If your kids can't behave, leave them at home.