[X] My Assistant

[bijoukaiba]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-...x-1226093489043

In recent news, a Pennsylvania restaurant has decided to "no longer admit children under 6". This is based on the argument that the restaurant is more of an adult-oriented eatery, and there have been multiple complaints about noisy children.

On the one hand, this does create a more quiet, mature environment for the adults that the restaurant is marketed towards.

On the other hand, this could be seen as upsetting to parents with younger children that enjoyed eating there, and may even be viewed as discriminatory to parents of disabled or mentally challenged children.

Your thoughts?

[Jen]

Sounds fine to me. Especially since it sounds like this place might be one of those more expensive restaurants. I'm not very fond of kids, so knowing that little ones won't be around is a huge plus, in my opinion. (Especially if this is some kind of date/romantic spot.) Not every kid is obnoxious, but there's always those ones that stare at you while you eat, turn around in their booths to look at everyone, or kick the booths nonstop with their feet...

I approve, but also think it should be higher than six, as well. Most children's menus are 12 and under only, so a 13+ restaurant would be okay, but preferably a more mature age - like they're wanting, would be 18+.

[LordIceBreath]

I can understand that. It's not discriminatory to parents of disabled or mentally challenged children because they aren't saying that only those kids can't go in. They are saying all children under 6 years old can't go in.

[Kookie Monster]

Fine dining means, it should be calm and nice, kids screaming really stops that from happened.

[unexistence]

I really don't mind this, especially if it's a romantic/fancy restaurant. I might have that policy if I'd ever own one XD.

[ShrapnelStars]

I definitely agree with the action taken. That restaurant seems to be expected to deliver a specific type of atmosphere, and they took actions to make sure that they did in order to prevent losing money.

Also, parents need to take better control of their children while at a restaurant. It isn't impossible to keep them quiet. Bring some coloring books and small toys along to keep them entertained while at the table and teach them how to behave when out somewhere. If they start screaming and crying, don't just sit there and let them do it. Take them outside/to the bathroom/wherever for a few minutes and get them straightened out so they don't cause any further disruption. Another key is to go out to dinner a little earlier so that they aren't cranky and tired because it's past their bedtime while you're out.

When my brother was younger, I remember our family taking those steps to make sure he didn't cause a scene whenever we went places. We've even been to special formal gatherings in which all children were banned except for me and him because we were well behaved when we were younger and the host knew that and made special exceptions.

I don't think the ban would have been placed in the first place if parents knew how to train and take care of their children.

Disabled children are another story, but I don't see them out at restaurants too often, anyway, and when I do, they and their families are respectful and quiet enough. Even if they aren't, people are more understanding because they know the situation. When it's a regularly functioning child that can be told to sit the hell down and shut up, there's no excuse.

[HidanandKakuzusL...]

I find it stupid because it's not right especially if the parents have been taking there kids there for years.

[Lord Raven]

fuck the private industry

that's retarded, i think they can get over it considering it happens at every single restaurant anyway...

[Hatake Kakashi]

That's stupid.

What if all the Steelers players went and ate there? They'd be as rowdy as some 6 year old's.

[Zombie Zekrom]

I don't think it's that bad, considering that the restaurant sounds like a more formal place. It's not like some place like Chuck E. Cheese's (or Jeeper's, if they still exist these days ) suddenly deciding, "nope, sorry, your kids under 6 aren't welcome here anymore".
Then again, I could be a little biased because I'm also not too fond of kids, especially the rowdy ones; eating in a semi-fancy restaurant and having a screaming kid somewhere nearby is a little irritating to say the least, imo. If parents bring their babies in there for whatever reason (couldn't find an available babysitter, etc.) and it starts crying, that's a little different. You can't keep a baby from crying/fussing sometimes because they don't know any better and/or they need the attention, but when they get a little older and get to the age where they should know better...

[joeycookson]

Noisy children should be allowed to a certain extent imo. Depends how much noise and at what time.

[Megatron]

Frankly I find kids obnoxious (excluding my sister because she has special needs) and restaurants have every right to impose an age restriction. There are hundreds of other places for families to go eat that will let them bring in their kids, so one restaurant (or chain) putting an age restriction in isn't going to kill their business and will promote the type of clientele they want. If you were having an important meeting over dinner with someone, no one wants to be interrupted by some kid yelling or babbling, or heck, even tossing stuff around. It also reflects badly on the parents, though like some people have said, the parents need better control over their kids /before/ bringing them to a restaurant.

[Last Angel the K...]

I have an interesting way of seeing this- as my parents own and operate a restaurant.
You can see it from the customer's point of view. "That darn kid won't let me enjoy my meal. Why can't I just eat in peace? Etc..."
Or the employee: "The kid's parents are paying customers. But he/she is causing to much noise, and they won't come back. Most kids are like this. We have to get them out."
Either way the kids are going, or more customers are going. So they will leave the kids out.
It's business. It's logical, but unneeded, for they could speak to the kid's parents, and say, "Sam/Emily is making a lot of noise, and it's interrupting the other customers, so can you have her calm down? Thank you." If it doesn't stop, just ask the parents to leave: "Pardon me, but Jimmy/Susie is still being too loud. We asked you before to calm him/her down, so we must ask you to leave." Don't make a fuss about it. Just pull aside the parents.

[PawsrentOrigin]

Eh, whatever they want to do. I have mixed thoughts about it.

[Skins T]

I'm totally for it. I hate noisy kids being around while I'm eating out.

[Chaso]

I remember the last time i ate at a restaurant, there was a table of 3 kids, approximately 2, 4 and 5 in age.

I -hate- noise, i don't mind the sound of a drill or the banging of a hammer because they're supposed to be loud and im used to that.
But Children screaming and parents shouting, ugh.

These kids were bouncing on their chairs, trying to climb on the tables to reach the food (the 4 year old did this the most) the 5 year old walked to other peoples tables and tried to take things, and would then scream extremely loudly when some old couple told him to go back to his table as they had nothing for him, and the 2 year old screamed and cried, although she calmed down when given a drink.
It was the 4 and 5 year old's that were the worst. Its as if their parents hadn't have taught them proper table manners yet, after their dinner was served, one of the kids screamed "I DON'T LIKE PEAS WHY DID YOU GIVE ME PEAS MAKE ME ANOTHER ONE" to his parents and started throwing the plate about, he was lucky there was a wall behind him and not another table, they would have been kicked out right then.

The waiter asked if the child had anything "wrong" with him and if there was something they could do to calm him down, and the parents just sighed in utter embarrassment, stating "I thought they'd behave if i took them to a fancy place with a lot of people, now i just look like a horrible parent"

It was quite a fancy and well packed restaurant filled with mature people having a quiet dinner, these kids screaming for about 20 minutes must have ruined quite a few nights and sacrificed a fair amount of tips.
So a fancy restaurant banning children under the age of 6 is fair.
Disability or not, a child under 6 is usually quite noisy in a restaurant that people pay top quid to get a perfect dinner for, If an older person was to come in and be noisy as heck, they would be asked to leave as well.

[Larzsi]

It depends on the restaurant, really. I personally hate it when little kids make noise, especially when their parents don't even try to stop them.

[Ritsukah]

Sounds fair & logical to me.

Regular restaurant where people of all ages would normally dine - bring yo' kidz, bring yo' wivez...

Fancy restaurant where either elderly people dine often and prefer quiet places, or expensive meals etc where you KNOW you should be on your best behavior etc - don't bring yo' kidz. End of story.

I personally don't take a liking to the little tinkers - often the 3-5 year olds as they are the ones whom create a lot of disturbance & noise around the place, or get upset and BALL their eyes out over little things. Otherwise, parents who don't do ANYTHING at all to calm the child down in the first place.

But hey, this is just my own personal opinion. There's one too many more reasons I could state, but that would be going overboard. In plain and simple - I think it's fair that a restaurant like that 'bans' children from that place as the chances of things going wrong are moderately high. No one wants kids staring at you while you eat (MAN, that is annoying for me), screaming and/or crying, walking around and being tempted to go up to other people tables, physically throwing food or chucking a tantrum and stuff like that, in general. Yer yer - that about sums it up for me. You pay top quality you deserve top quality.

[BarkingChaos]

I have no problem with this. Parents should learn to control their kids. If I go to an expensive restaurant, I dont want to put up with a 5 year old screaming and running around.

Now, if I go to a cheap family restaurant, I kinda expect annoying kids. You can't go to a place like Friendly's and not expect kids screaming. You just just have to put up with it. But I think any place has the right to throw someone out if they are too out of hand (kids or adults)

[ChikaraWolf]

I personally believe that it's a parent's responsibility to make sure their children are quiet, or else take them outside to calm them down. I don't think it's right for a restaurant to specifically ban a certain age group, because that's judgmental, discriminatory, and it limits the options that families have. If all of the restaurants were to start banning children under a certain age, that would mean that families that have small children can't go out to eat as a family, and that isn't fair.