I feel for you don't worry about it cause you'll see it time after time.
Especially now that if someone sees a parent hit a child in public all you have to do is call Child Protective Services and they will be investigated for child abuse.
It's hard for you to understand cause you don't have a child, so if one day you do have a child or children of your own then you'll know what parents go through just to try to have a nice dinner out. You'll have bad experiances just you watch.
The kids should definately have shoes or slippers on, no doubt about that and kids should stay close to their tables and not in the walk area of the customers or workers, I agree.

Posted 26 May 2009 by Mi-Young

Yes it is a problem for everyone when a family doesn't control their childrens' behavior. I just went to a restaurant the other day and the table next to us had a little girl though was nice and quiet, kept standing on the seat and looking over into our booth. Growing up it was unacceptable to stand on the seats and especially rude to let your children stare at other people while they're trying to eat.

And yes while it is hard to understand it from a parent's perspective when I don't have my own children, it doesn't mean that a parent should let their kid go crazy in public. If we had tantrums in public my parents would leave us with relatives when they went out to eat or if we were at the restaurant they would have us do a time out and walk outside so we wouldn't disturb other diners. There are ways to deal with kids, I blame the parents now a days for either being to lazy or not responsible enough to take care of their kids properly.

Posted 26 May 2009 by alanna03

Last Halloween we went to a local restaurant about 8:30 p.m. It was still kind of crowded with lots of families and kids still in costume. We were seated next to a large group that included several young children. I thought to myself, "oh great, this will be fun" because the table was a little loud as the kids were still excited about their evening. When our plates came, I started nibbling at my fries before putting the lettuce and tomato on my sandwich. The next thing I know something comes flying through the air and lands right on my sandwich!! After a few seconds I realized it was a child's slipper!! It was a nice fancy one with huge flowers on it. After a second of stunned shock, I looked around to see if I could tell where it came from or if I could see anyone with a malicious grin on their face. Just then one of the adults from the next table runs over to us, retrieved the slipper, and apologized profusely for the flying slipper. I was really upset, but didn't say anything, just smiled thinly and thanked him for the offer to pay for my sandwich.

Needless to say, a new sandwich was served and the rest of the evening was awkward as my husband and I avoided eye contact with the table. Eventually, the large group finished their meals and started to leave. Before leaving, the gentleman who retrieved the slipper stopped by our table and again apologized for the incident, and to our surprise said that he had paid for both our meals. We actually didn’t expect him to pay for any part of our meal, so we were dumbfounded that he paid not only for my sandwich but also for my husband’s. Then, I sensed someone standing next to me and saw that it was a little girl of about 5 or 6 and her mom. The girl was crying and after a few false starts, she apologized to me for kicking her slipper in the air!!! My heart just melted! I consoled her and told her that I wasn’t mad, that it was just an accident and that she was such a nice little girl because I knew she didn’t really mean to kick her slipper.

So you see, while there are some parents out there who themselves don’t know the value of manners, much less the value of teaching their kids manners, there are others who do. We can only hope that those that do outnumber those that don’t. And if the family who was there happens to read this, thank you so much for reinstating my faith in humankind!!

Posted 24 Jun 2009 by Lilikoi

Good one Lilikoi! Those people were brought up right and fortunately for their kid (and for everyone she comes in contact with), she will probably be brought up right as well. A sincere apology can sometimes more that make up for the infraction.

Posted 22 Jan 2010 by SLAVE