Do you let your toddler walk around in the restaurant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is totally based on the restaurant and the situation. If a child is well behaved and is being escorted around the restaurant and the restaurant is not that busy, what is the big deal? If the restaurant is very busy, has tiight walk-ways and is not well lit, then probably not a good place for a kids to be walking around for safety reasons. it seems like common sense to me.

You are much too reasonable. You do not belong here. You make the shrews look even more unreasonable.
Please go away.

[Anonymous]

I love the immediately preceding post! However, having been at a luncheon where a carafe broke and caused scalding coffee to pour down a patron's back, I would never let a toddler walk around, unless the restaurant were almost empty.

[Anonymous]

We walk around with our son a little bit because he is only 2 1/2 and quite active. We'll avoid the crowded spaces and either go outside or go in parts of the restaurant where we will not get in waitstaff's way, though we did get underfoot a little as we approached our seat. I thought it was more polite to walk around a little bit than to have a kid acting out at a table, disturbing the other diners nearby. I find if we walk him after we place the order and between dinner and dessert, the rest of the meal goes quite well. We don't go anywhere terribly fancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm astonished at these answers! I've taken my 2 year old to the Silver Diner or Fuddruckers and while waiting for food, he's wanted to walk around, so I held his hand and we did a couple laps. People smiled and waved at him and it was fine. What the hell is the big deal?

I agree! Usually we take a lap around to check out the premises, maybe stop at a high chair to smile at a waving baby. People are always friendly. I wouldn't do it if it was crowded, dangerous, or seemed inappropriate, but at the early hour we eat and at the family friendly places we frequent, this is totally normal.

[Anonymous]

I might walk with him.. make an unnecessary trip to the bathroom or whatever but otherwise no. Busy or not there are hot food/beverages being carried around. It's not a risk I'm willing to take.

[Anonymous]

I have worked as a nanny for about 10 years. I do not walk kids around a restaurant and here is why:
I don't always have just one child, carrying 2-3 around is a bit of a challenge while trying to keep them out of trouble and out of the way of servers.

Toddlers don't understand the difference between a busy, small restaurant and one with lots of space. Telling them "no" only sometimes will lead to a meltdown. Toddlers can better understand and predict black and white rules.

Learning to sit in a restaurant is an important skill.

I worked as a server when I was a teen. I saw a 3 y/o badly burned when a server tripped on her and dropped a pizza that had just come out of the oven. The child left in an ambulance and the server was distraught for a week. The girl was playing while her parents ate.

Their parents may allow it. Kids quickly learn that different adults have different rules and adjust. The expectation to sit is clear and they don't usually ask. I bring entertainment and usually a small snack. I engage them while they are waiting. I go to places that I know will be able to get the food to the table quickly. I ask for the check when the food arrives. When a meltdown happens, we leave. My own child older and has outgrown the table jitters. Sitting was my rule when she was younger, too.

[Anonymous]

No, we do not let our son walk around restuarants, nor do we walk him around. When he was a baby we may have taken him out of the restaurant if he got fussy but we try very hard to not disturb other diners. It just seems like common courtesy to me -- the fact that I want to eact in a restaurant doesn't give me the right to interrupt other people who want to do the same thing.
Part of it is trying to teach him manners and to sit still and enjoy a meal with us. Part of it is not wanting to interrupt the flow of the restaurant, and a big part of it is trying to respect other diners. I don't really want my dinner with my kid interrupted by people we don't know -- who may be cute and lovely -- who need to wander around the restaurant. First, it isn't my job to entertain someone else's kids. Second, I get tired of having to explain to my kid that our rules are different than other peoples' rules and that's why he's expected to stay in his seat and eat his dinner and talk with us (or play a game or do any of the other things we've brought along to try to keep him entertained). And there's also the issue of just too many kids (and maybe parents) walking around -- it just seems unnecessarily chaotic to me.

And we won't go out for meals with people -- even family -- who can't or won't control their kids and let them wander around. In fact, one couple we know seems to encourage it so that they can "enjoy their meal" while their horribly bratty kid wanders around on his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes. and we tip high. And I agree, walking is not a dangerous activity, I'm amazed at how scary the word "walk" is to most posters.

This is gross. Just because you "tip high", does not excuse rude behavior. Nouveau riche, yuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little surprised at the comments that it's rude to do this. I'm reacting from a place of "kids should be tucked away and shield the world from them" mentality. Kids are people too, and it they want to walk around a restaurant highly supervised and out of the way of anyone who might trip on them (I don't think anyone was suggesting that a toddler be given free reign to wander unsupervised) I don't see the problem. It never bothered me before I had a child, and it doesn't bother me now. People who say it's rude are somehow implying that children's mere presence is offensive, and I find that offensive. Unless you yourself teleport yourself to your seat, you walk through a restaurant too.

The point is that adults do not randomly walk around a restaurant past tables in groups of two. That would be rude and disruptive. Can you imagine it? It isn't that children should be treated any differently than adults. They should be treated the same. It is inappropriate for any person to wander around a restaurant. It is disruptive to other diners.

Exactly right!!! This was my reaction to the first post and I am so glad to see it was already addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is totally based on the restaurant and the situation. If a child is well behaved and is being escorted around the restaurant and the restaurant is not that busy, what is the big deal? If the restaurant is very busy, has tiight walk-ways and is not well lit, then probably not a good place for a kids to be walking around for safety reasons. it seems like common sense to me.

You are much too reasonable. You do not belong here. You make the shrews look even more unreasonable.
Please go away.

I know I must be a bore on this board!

[Anonymous]

So sad to see so many posters who think of children as subhumans. They are in a learning process. Sometimes they'll fail, sometimes they'll succeed. How can they learn without the little setbacks? But you people all expect perfection. It's disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So sad to see so many posters who think of children as subhumans. They are in a learning process. Sometimes they'll fail, sometimes they'll succeed. How can they learn without the little setbacks? But you people all expect perfection. It's disgusting.

Missing the point. I don't want my kid to be injured. A cup of hot tea fell on a friend's toddler daughter and she was hospitalized for a month. I don't want this to happen to my - or any other - child.

[Anonymous]

Actually, it's because we don't expect perfection that we expect to make accommodations of our children AND the rest of the world. So children who can't stay in their seats or stop screaming need to be taken out of the restaurant for a break.

Hey, were you the woman playing tag with your kid in the Carlyle on Sunday? The kid who was cramming his truck into the sugar bowl and hurling it onto the floor? That was awesome, and I'm sure the servers love you.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Absolutely we do not let our child (2.5) walk around a restaurant with or without us. It's bad etiquette, dangerous, and disrespectful to other diners. And we want her to learn to behave when dining out. The same reason we teach her to use "restaurant voice" and not to yell or scream what she wants when we eat. This is basic manners, and it doesn't matter if the restaurant is DC Coast, Olive Garden, or Taco Bell.

I think this yet another example as to why children are becoming more and more disrespectful these days, do not listen to authority, talk back, disobey teachers and other figures of authority. Because parents let them do and get away with whatever the hell they want whenever they want and wherever they want, appropriate or not. The oh-see-how-cute-my-kid-is oblivion, when everyone else is just annoyed. I cannot tell you how many times i've seen rude and disrespectful and downright bratty behavior by older children toward adults and their parents, and the parents do nothing about it, and just let them have their way because it's "easier" or they think it's cute, God forbid.

I will never forget the time my DH and I were out on a date night to a movie, and we were waiting in line for the elevator to get to the garage. The elevator doors opened and two kids, aged about 10 and 8 literally physically pushed us aside and raced into the elevator, while their father himself pushed ahead and didn't even say "excuse me" or make the boys excuse themselves or wait their turn. It was so rude and the parent just validated it. Disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So sad to see so many posters who think of children as subhumans. They are in a learning process. Sometimes they'll fail, sometimes they'll succeed. How can they learn without the little setbacks? But you people all expect perfection. It's disgusting.

Missing the point. I don't want my kid to be injured. A cup of hot tea fell on a friend's toddler daughter and she was hospitalized for a month. I don't want this to happen to my - or any other - child.

You weren't the type of poster I was referring to. Ironic that you missed MY point.