Wednesday, November 09, 2005

what do you think of this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/09/national/09bakery.html?pagewanted=1&incamp=article_popular

i don't have kids, so i don't know. but... i have worked in restaurants for many years. some parents would blindly let a 2-3 yr old wander all over, into the kitchen even, getting in my way as I was walking about with hot plates of food. i would ask parents to watch their kids - saying it like -"i don't want anyone to get hurt." but sometimes it was so out of control.

I liked his comment:
Mr. McCauley, 44, said the protesting parents were "former cheerleaders and beauty queens" who "have a very strong sense of entitlement." In an open letter he handed out at the bakery, he warned of an "epidemic" of antisocial behavior.

"Part of parenting skills is teaching kids they behave differently in a restaurant than they do on the playground," Mr. McCauley said in an interview. "If you send out positive energy, positive energy returns to you. If you send out energy that says I'm the only one that matters, it's going to be a pretty chaotic world."


i never went to cafes when i was little. we hardly went out to eat. couldn't afford it. so this was never an issue. i dunno. some crying, some wandering kids, fine,but throwing your toys at a display case, and screaming for more than a few minutes? how is that ok for everyone else in the cafe?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

DOH! FB, I just posted on the same article!

It's about socializing your kids. And that doesn't mean oppressing them. It means teaching them context appropriate behavior.

Context appropriate behavior. Adults could use a little lesson in that as well. Since when is okay to talk loudly through a movie or have a conversation on your cell phone in the middle of a theater or in a business meeting for that matter.

oooh. bordering on rant terrirtory for me.

Anonymous said...

see! I get riled and then come the spelling errors and typos.

fairy butler said...

the problem is that people draw that line at different places.

fairy butler said...

2nd problem the idea that "i have the right to sit down, relax, and enjoy myself at a cafe" - even if my kids are acting like it is a playground.

is it laziness on part of the parents? or what? yes, you want to let the kids be kids, but all in moderation, right?

Anonymous said...

Let kids be kids at their own house.

It's the innattentive parents that are particularly obnoxious. I ended up having to take a different seat on a flight back from Seattle because the guy couldn't control his toddler. It's bothersome, not because of the toddler and its gallons of drool, but because of the dad's smirk and comment "You might want to find another seat."

ARGH! he paid for one seat and ended up with three. I ended up in 29e. And it was all okay for him and his kid, who apparently don't need to learn how to coexist with others on this planet.

Had it not been 7am I probably would have held my ground or fought for an upgrade but I was severly caffeine deprived.

Anonymous said...

I hate children, I hit them with my stumps when I see them and I never get in trouble because I am handicapped.

toodster said...

hehe, Well, nothing ruins a relaxing meal like a crying baby. That said, babies do cry. a lot. So, you avoid places where you will be anoying. restaurants qualify. Places that sell scones and coffee do not. If you want to set up shop in yuppie land, get ready for the stroller brigade. I'm fairly certain that Mccaulkin is not a parent. The oblivious parents with the 3 year old tearing up Friendly's are anoying though. Not sure a sign that read "childless gay hipsters are welcome to eat here if they don't talk with a lisp" would go over too well either.

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