Saturday, August 25, 2007

Tiny Tot Warfare



I just had to write about this today. In my line of work, I see many stupid things. The most popular is how parents treat their children.

I have see parents smack bottoms, take children to the bathroom (and you know the kid doesn't have to potty), seen a spatula brought from home (it sat on the table as a warning to the child not to act up) and seen children ruling the parents.

Children ruling the parents are the worst. Not just because it isn't appropriate, but these kids are unruly, disrespectful and sometimes mean. What a lovely next generation some people are raising. The latest in this thread of children having the upper hand is: There was an adorable little girl, or I thought she was at first. The parents placed her in the high chair and all was well for about fifteen minutes. After that she was hell on two feet. She proceeded to scream like a banshee, kick like a mule and tell her parents to let her out NOW! Instead of disciplining said child, they removed her from her seat and proceeded to let her run around the table and to various other areas in the restaurant. At the risk of losing my job, I wanted to tell them to park her bratty ass.

It is dangerous to allow children to run freely around a restaurant, not to mention annoying as hell. The food on the plates is at minimum 180 degrees. The child can get burnt. The child causes a server to play "Dodge the People" and believe me it isn't a fun game. The child also annoys the other patrons of the establishment. Basically, it shows a complete lack of parental skills.

Guess what? When this kid is 16, and she is not listening to a word you say or respecting you, you are going to be whining, bitching and moaning to everyone who will listen.

Save our ears. Take control and be a Mom or Dad!

I am the take my child to the bathroom type. My boys sit at the table, do not scream, kick or cry. And if they make a mess they shouldn't make, they are the ones cleaning it up. God help my kids if they ever even thought of spreading mashed potatoes on the wall. (Yes that has happened) Their art work is limited to paper. Don't get me wrong, they are not perfect, but when we go out to dine, unless it is Chuck E. Cheese, they behave or else.

Tell me about some of your child experiences while dining out. I am most curious to hear new stories.

4 comments:

MYSTIC said...

That's why God let us invent "Stun Guns" it was to help in child rearing, but child rearing can be done the old fashion way. A well placed swat on the butt, when a child is young enough to remember, will behave, if you remind them that appropriate behavior is required. If my child was acting like that...I would leave..the child and let the cook raise them. Thanks for stopping bye the blog.

ZoeyBella said...

Kids are a handful. 'Nuff said ;)

cathouse teri said...

I can't stand untrained dogs or untrained children.

When I was a waitress, if anyone did this (and they did it a lot... I was in UTAH... duh!) I would get the manager and he would politely ask the people to restrain their child(ren). It's the manager's position to do so. If they are not there, then whoever is in charge in their absence.

Whenever I hear the announcement at the airport, "To all passengers in the Terminal. Please keep control of your..." And every time I think they are going to say CHILDREN. "...bags" Damn! They didn't say it!

Here's a fun church sign that was spotted: For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

And finally, a cute restaurant story. We were at a pizza place with another family when Erin was about three. She had recently gone through the awful experience of using too much toilet paper and having the toilet overflow. So she was a little paranoid about this. It was a small restaurant and fairly deserted, so when she had to go, I sent her to the bathroom located right beside us. She was in there a few moments and then I look up as she is waddling out with her panties around her ankles, holding a wad of toilet paper, saying, "Is this too much toilet paper, mom?"

soccer mom in denial said...

I simply lose my mind over rude children, including my own. But a magical thing has started to happend. They show manners without me reminding them. At IHOP this morning they said please and thank you to our server, commended him for coming so quickly with our food (I think he and I both fell over on that one) and STAYED put for the entire meal.

That IHOP has actually been really awesome to us over the years. We would stagger in at 6:30 am when the boys were super little (under 2 years old) and the staff would open the way back just for us so the boys could run around while we attempted to shove food in our mouths and not bother any patrons. We always got the same waitress who just made us feel so welcomed.

Now at ages 7 and 3, they've got to sit, eat properly and show manners. Period, end of story.