Should Children Be Allowed In Restaurants?

Should Children Be Allowed In Restaurants?

Thursday 17 February 2011

A friend said something to me recently that made me realise the power of what we are trying to do within the NCT. She was sitting in the middle of toddler bedlam at her daughter’s party and said “last year it was just us: Who would have thought I could make so many friends in a year?”

I don’t talk much about the NCT stuff I get up to, mainly because so much of it at the moment is planning rather than doing, and maybe a result of that is that I forget how important the “bread and butter” events of our organisation really are.

The truth is, our groups make a difference to families, not just in big ways, but sometimes just in a cup of tea and a chat. It made me humble to realise I'm part of something so powerful.

Nice moment, now bring on the grump; because it's been a while since I got on my soapbox. 

Have you read about this?

My friend sent me the link complete with a short missive on her own perspective because like a lot of child related issues, this one seems to divide opinion with the strength of feeling that normally causes people to reply with a "HELL yeah!!" backed up by some firing of guns into the air.

And didn't you just know it, I've got my own opinion on the idea of children in restaurants.

If you go to a restaurant and my kid is sitting at a table, making a conversational level of noise and keeping his food within the confines of our table, YOU HAVE NO REASON TO COMPLAIN. 

If my child starts to bellow, launch food half way to Mars or run around knocking waiters down like skittles, you had better believe that I will not smile indulgently at him, I'll be carrying him back to the car by his ankle.

Because I am a responsible parent and that is how you act in a public place. Any. Public. Place. And I don't need a guide to tell me that. 

If you don't like the idea of a small children in restaurants then stay at home because they have as much right to be there as you do. That is just the unfortunate thing about public places you see, they contain other people who might just have differing views to your own and unless your name is the one above the door, you're just going to have to put up with it.

N'OK cupcake?