Welcome - if they're well behaved (Kids and Restaurants)

Member Name: Leolover

Product:	Kids and Restaurants
Date:	08/08/02 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: everyone enjoys themselves

Disadvantages: can be difficult to ensure good behaviour

When I was a child, I was very rarely taken to 'kiddie friendly' fast food joints like Mcdonalds or Burger King, where you often see kids running around screaming their heads off and dropping their food all over the place, and it's viewed as perfectly acceptable.

If my brother and I were taken out for a meal, it was more likely to be a pub lunch or even a nice restaurant, where good behaviour was obligatory. We learned quickly that any misbehaviour would not be tolerated, and we enjoyed sitting quietly with the adults and eating a nice meal.

I believe that the fast food joints that children are often exposed to at an early age have a very bad effect on their behaviour. Children can't comprehend the difference between Mcdonalds and a nice restaurant, and will not understand why running around and making noise is acceptable in one, and not the other. Not only is the food bad for their bodies, the place itself is bad for the development of their behaviour.

I'm not saying that the occasional burger is a problem, but children who eat regularly at such places are far more likely to become suspicious and tolerant of 'adult' food, which makes them even more likely to act up in a formal restaurant. They'll think it's okay to eat all their food with their fingers, play with their toys at the table and run around unsupervised, as if they're at a Mcdonalds childrens party.

There's nothing worse than sitting down in a nice restaurant for a meal only to find it spoilt by a bunch of screaming, badly behaved children. It's particularly irksome when the parent(s) of the child take no action to stop the child behaving badly. On the other hand, a polite, well mannered child or children enjoying a nice meal with their family is a joy to see, and should be encouraged and welcomed. To encourage this, I would suggest :

* Exposing your child to a range of different foods as soon as possible, s
o they don't start to view anything different as 'weird' food and become faddy eaters.

* Taking your child to lots of different eating venues and encouraging a good standard of behaviour in all of them.

* Do not tolerate any type of bad behaviour in an eating place - if the child starts to behave badly, remove him/her from the premises and make it clear that further tantrums will result in the removal of all such treats in the future.

* If you see a child acting badly, use him/her as an example of how NOT to behave, and explain why this sort of behaviour isn't acceptable.

Admittedly, I don't have children of my own, so I realise that all this may be very well in principle but far harder to implement in practice. However, as a regular restaurant goer, I DO know how annoying it is to have your evening out spoilt by kids behaving badly, and it would be much nicer for everyone if this kind of situation could be avoided.

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