Noisy children in restaurants

[PrinceNamor]

Mr N and I not big fans of small children at all.

In what resepct? Do you just dislike them in general? Were you ever a small child? I guess mummy and daddy always had you under perfect control. It seems society today is so anti children - its refreshing to go to Italy or France were its the norm to take children out with you for a meal.

[Gibbon]

Yep. We know one woman who has actually broken the taboo and admitted she regrets having kids. There's a TV program coming on Dutch TV about this; it seems she is far from alone.

A survey in Holland showed that more than a third of all higher level educated (uni, poly, professional qualifications) men and more than a quarter of higher educated women don't want children at all, but so many end up giving in to their partner who does want them that only about 1 in 10 of those adults eventually don't have kids. See the source of many broken marriages. Happily, neither of us want them. I've known that since I was about, oooh, five. Same goes for Lady Tester.

One day it will hit you, and it will be too late.

Procreation is the only real reason for existance, the rest are just illusions.

Out of all my experiences in a very varied life nothing comes close to seeing my children (and I include my step daughter) turn into fully functioning independant adults ready to take their part in society.

[Halo Jones]

Yep. We know one woman who has actually broken the taboo and admitted she regrets having kids. There's a TV program coming on Dutch TV about this; it seems she is far from alone.

Luckily BGG & I are of the same opinion on this: we like life without the responsibility, but as a female there are still some (mostly older generation) who consider me childless & have pity as there must be something wrong!

It is the same in interviews I always make sure that I comment that I am child free & happy with it

But as I have 6 siblings & 10 nieces/nephews I can appreciate how hard it is to take kids out & keep them quiet

[SueEllen]

Most of the people around were OK apart from the couple in the seat directly in front. They kept turning around, pulling faces, shaking heads and tutting. After about the sixth turn, stare, shake and tut I leant forward and whispered 'If you turn around one more time and tut at me I am going to pull your ******* eyes out. Do you understand?'

I'm surprised you didn't just hand her over to the female of the couple.

That would have shut her up particularly if your daughter puked.

[Mich the Tester]

its refreshing to go to Italy or France were its the norm to take children out with you for a meal.

I've also noticed how French and Italian people generally give their children the sort of upbringing that makes that a perfectly responsible thing to do, unlike many British, or worse still, Dutch parents.

[Mich the Tester]

Out of all my experiences in a very varied life nothing comes close to seeing my children (and I include my step daughter) turn into fully functioning independant adults ready to take their part in society.

In other words, the best moment was when the little buggers left home.

[cailin maith]

Luckily BGG & I are of the same opinion on this: we like life without the responsibility, but as a female there are still some (mostly older generation) who consider me childless & have pity as there must be something wrong!

It is the same in interviews I always make sure that I comment that I am child free & happy with it

But as I have 6 siblings & 10 nieces/nephews I can appreciate how hard it is to take kids out & keep them quiet

I guess women who want kids, can't understand why other women don't want them. In the same way women who don't want them, can't understand women who do.

Bonkers

[SueEllen]

One day it will hit you, and it will be too late.

Procreation is the only real reason for existance, the rest are just illusions.

Out of all my experiences in a very varied life nothing comes close to seeing my children (and I include my step daughter) turn into fully functioning independant adults ready to take their part in society.

Not everyone in the UK is part of a small nuclear family.

Unfortunately for some of my nephews and nieces they clearly have some of the same genes as me.

Was very amusing when their parents couldn't work out where a particular feature came from.

[Board Game Geek]

When my eldest was about 18 months we went on a plane.

Anyway something was wrong, probably the air pressure because she went mental. Properly mental.

Being a package holiday plane there was no galley that you could walk into(or were allowed to).

Stressful didn't go into it. It was a four hour journey and she was loopy for 3.5 hours of it. Kicking, screaming, crying. We had up and down the plane, in the toilets. Couldn't do anything.

Most of the people around were OK apart from the couple in the seat directly in front. They kept turning around, pulling faces, shaking heads and tutting. After about the sixth turn, stare, shake and tut I leant forward and whispered 'If you turn around one more time and tut at me I am going to pull your ******* eyes out. Do you understand?'

They didn't look back once after that.

As I said. It's stressful for all concerned.

Nice. Remind me never to have the misfortune of sharing public transport with you or your brood.

If you didn't think about the potential harm that flying can impact on a young baby, and also threatened the people in front of you with physical assault, then I'm surprised you weren't arrested on landing for being a danger to others. Others have been arrested for far less.

[doodab]

Unfortunately if a 3 year old decides to go mental there isn't anything you can do to shut them up except tie them up and gag them.

Over here this is common knowledge, so you have two types of places, the ones with lots of kids in where the clientele know what to expect and are a bit more indulgent and the ones without any kids in where they are quite rightly upset if you turn up with a noisy child.

So basically, if you want child free dining go somewhere that doesn't have high chairs and a kids menu. Otherwise, be prepared to deal with children being children. You were all young once, and one day you'll be old and doddery and stinking of piss and those kids will be all grown up and either holding the door for you or letting it go in your face and moaning about "doddery old farts in restaurants".