Just read a good blog post about a restaurant in NC that put up a sign stating that screaming kids would not be tolerated. You can find the article HERE.
Now, I have kids, three of the lil’ boogers, all of whom have screamed out in public before. But I never just let them sit there and continue to annoy other people. Nor do I let them get up and run around the _________ (fill in the blank: restaurant, library, bank, drugstore) because it’s easier than disciplining them.
I LOVE the idea of a totally child-free restaurant, or having a child-free zone in most eating establishments. And creating a family section on an airplane? Sign me up if I’m traveling with my kiddos! And seat me as far away as possible if I’m not!
I love my kids, and I love most of my friends’ and family’s kids (I’m sorry, but—there are a couple of little ones that are REALLY hard to be around). But I don’t have some Mary Poppins-style all-encompassing love for children that makes me immune to little monsters running wild in public. I don’t want to be around other people’s screaming young ‘uns, particularly when I’m out with my husband or girlfriends without my kids in tow. So I just do not understand the comments on this piece where parents are stating that they will not support a restaurant or airline that doesn’t welcome children. What in the world is wrong with adult-only zones? And let’s be honest: if more parents actually parented their kids, there wouldn’t be a need for this conversation.
I know this makes me sound older than dirt, but when I was a kid, we knew better than to act the way I see kids behaving out in public today. And we knew that if we didn’t use our manners, we were in for it when we got home. I have tried to raise my boys the same.
And I think that is the missing link: it’s just not like that in most households anymore.
My sister is a flight attendant and encounters rude kids every single day. (Her stories are going to make a great column one week!) She always makes a point to praise the respectful kids, and is saddened by how rarely she gets to do that.
That just shouldn’t be, folks. It just shouldn’t be. Well-behaved children should be the norm, not the anomaly!
And now I will step down off my soapbox. Thank you.