Sorry but your stinky eye won't make my crying toddler shut up...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop going to restaurants wen you have an infant and a toddler. It sucks for you and everyone else there. Why do people even do this?

I often wonder myself. Why?
I worked at a restaurant for a while and I just watched these parents struggle throughout the meal with their really young toddlers or infants. Their whole meal was a rush, rush, rush. The parents would shove the food down while they tried to keep the peace at the table. It was a hot mess most of the time. Other patrons were often annoyed.

As a parent I only had to experience a similar situation only once to know I will not do again until DS is fresh after a nap, is not starving, we have distractions and he is ready to sit still for at least 30-45 minutes. DH and I loved going out to eat before we had DS, but this is a sacrifice we made to prevent a stressful lunch/dinner and to prevent ruining other people's dining experience.

[Anonymous]

I'm American and I call it the stinky eye too, btw
It's not a southern either dummy.
Op, if anyone is giving me a stinky eye while my kids are acting up, I would never know because I don't even glance around so I don't even give them the satisfaction

[Anonymous]

OP. You were probably annoying all of the patrons. I have a 2 year old and I am mindful of other diners and take him outside when he is loud. I never forget that I was in their shoes only 2 short years ago. My life changed, not theirs so I don't have a right to impose it on them.

[Anonymous]

It's chipotle. Sorry but anyone there has already given up on civilization. When you go to mcdonalds version of a Mexican restaurant youngive up the right to complain. About anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop going to restaurants wen you have an infant and a toddler. It sucks for you and everyone else there. Why do people even do this?

I often wonder myself. Why?
I worked at a restaurant for a while and I just watched these parents struggle throughout the meal with their really young toddlers or infants. Their whole meal was a rush, rush, rush. The parents would shove the food down while they tried to keep the peace at the table. It was a hot mess most of the time. Other patrons were often annoyed.

As a parent I only had to experience a similar situation only once to know I will not do again until DS is fresh after a nap, is not starving, we have distractions and he is ready to sit still for at least 30-45 minutes. DH and I loved going out to eat before we had DS, but this is a sacrifice we made to prevent a stressful lunch/dinner and to prevent ruining other people's dining experience.

Exactly. I have a 1 and 3 yr old and we don't go out to eat unless we absolutely have to ( like we are far from home).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's chipotle. Sorry but anyone there has already given up on civilization. When you go to mcdonalds version of a Mexican restaurant youngive up the right to complain. About anything.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: what's up with this people giving the stinky eye to parents when there's nothing we can do? don't they know we're embarrassed enough by the child's behavior? they MUST do it to make us feel even worse? why?

Nobody should be giving you the stink eye. I'm genuinely sorry you had a rough day, and I've been there, but pretending the situation is out of your hands is disingenuous.

[Anonymous]

I dunno. If someone is sitting at a restaurant, they might be with their coworkers, or invested in the time (if not money) for the sitting down of the meal - they planned for a 1/2 hour or so of peace and at least being able to talk without distraction. If it is reasonably expected to take any longer than fast food, patrons have every right to enjoy it not "on the run". However, if your kid is screaming, you best get outta there fast. You are outnumbered. Isn't this common sense? Anyone?

OP, you made the choice to have kids. The patrons did not make the choice to have children screaming along with their lunch. Unless you are paying for the entire restaurant, of course!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's chipotle. Sorry but anyone there has already given up on civilization. When you go to mcdonalds version of a Mexican restaurant youngive up the right to complain. About anything.

Amen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's chipotle. Sorry but anyone there has already given up on civilization. When you go to mcdonalds version of a Mexican restaurant youngive up the right to complain. About anything.

Excuse me?! No. I don't. Please tell me you don't really mean this.

[Anonymous]

Maybe the guy was just having a bad day. Ignore it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kids ever acted up while we were out eating I would tend to it immediately. If I couldn't get the situation under control and my kid continued to throw a tantrum, scream or whatever thereby disrupting other patrons we would leave immediately.

Not sure what giving someone the stink eye is going to accomplish and it's annoying. However, I think people in general get fed up by having their meal, maybe the only peaceful time in their work day, disrupted by someone's bratty child.

Hello, person without kids. Hope you enjoy the view from atop your high horse!

I have a 1 and a 4 year old. We go out to eat every Saturday night to our favorite restaurant. When my oldest was 18 months we had one incident where he was terribly restless and loud, so we asked for our meals to go and left out. I did not want to ruin other people's dinner and evening out. My son wasn't ready to go back out to a restaurant until he turned 2. Sucked because we like to go out to eat. Anyway, currently we have a 1 year old who sits in a high chair and nibbles on food the entire time we are sitting at the table.. She loves food. My 4 year old knows the rules and what our expectations are when we are out. He sits in his chair, is not allowed to move around, run around or disrupt other people on the other side of the booth, and he is to use his inside voice. We have a great time out every weekend!

Hoping we won't have to take a hiatus when my 1 year old turns 18 months, but if necessary we will forgo going out to eat for awhile.

The point is that we experience a nice meal together. Running around after kids, constantly struggling to keep them quiet, dealing with a tantrum in the middle of dinner is stressful for everyone.

A few tips for you to try:
give a small snack before going out to eat so the kids aren't starving when you get to the restaurant
make sure they are rested, after nap is the best time
take a short walk or make the older kids run around before going out to eat to burn off some extra energy.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's chipotle. Sorry but anyone there has already given up on civilization. When you go to mcdonalds version of a Mexican restaurant youngive up the right to complain. About anything.

THANK YOU

i'm the OP and this is exactly why we go to such places.

mind you, i have a newborn, mastitis is fading away and i can feel thrush kicking in already, add a toddler to the game and DH is working from home taking conference calls 12 hours a day. he's around all day long and we can't make noise. he gets this little break and the last thing i'll do is to hand the kids to him and cook. while i'm sick we're eating out. sorry "patrons"

we're on an assignment, far from friends and family so we're a team of 2. it's been working well so far, thanks. it's been fun and so rewarding..

that being said, yes we'll go t chipotle because my tot can eat without me having to force feed her - she loves their food - the place is noisy like a rave so the only person who heard her scream was this stupid guy sitting in the next table.

if you want peace and quiet you go to barnes n noble or the library. you want silence for a meal at chipotle? BWAHAHA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I give you the stink eye, will you shut the fuck up now?

Seriously, I don't need to hear about how your brat annoyed someone else and you're all indignant about the reaction you got.

Stay home or something. Sheesh. You should have been apologizing profusely to the guy, not taking umbrage at his stink eye. *The world does not revolve around your snowflake.*

Why does a person like you come to a parenting site like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
i'm the OP and this is exactly why we go to such places.

mind you, i have a newborn, mastitis is fading away and i can feel thrush kicking in already, add a toddler to the game and DH is working from home taking conference calls 12 hours a day. he's around all day long and we can't make noise. he gets this little break and the last thing i'll do is to hand the kids to him and cook. while i'm sick we're eating out. sorry "patrons"

we're on an assignment, far from friends and family so we're a team of 2. it's been working well so far, thanks. it's been fun and so rewarding..

that being said, yes we'll go t chipotle because my tot can eat without me having to force feed her - she loves their food - the place is noisy like a rave so the only person who heard her scream was this stupid guy sitting in the next table.

if you want peace and quiet you go to barnes n noble or the library. you want silence for a meal at chipotle? BWAHAHA

Translation: "Me, me, me, me, me, me, me...." OP, I was *somewhat* sympathetic to your original post. Now...meh.