Say you have told your two-year-old (and no, this is not too young to start) that if she throws another fry with ketchup on it onto the floor, you will have to leave the restaurant. So of course, she's going to huck the fry, right? Duh. Then what? You are at a crucial crossroads. You can either bunch up your face and repeat your threat, tagging the words one more time to the end of it, or you can calmly get up and take the kid out to the lobby or the car or wherever until the rest of the family has eaten or packed up their to-go boxes. (Hint: the 2nd one is the right answer.)
Aw, but...
I know. It's rough. But you HAVE TO do it. You have to.
But we'll never be able to eat in a restaurant again!
Wrong! This is where most people get into trouble. Nipping the anit-social behavior in the bud is the easier option. (And we can all agree that pelting others with ketchuped fries is not cool, right?) Chances are you'll only go through the above scenario ONE TIME. The next time your kid knows you mean what you say. Then you're free to go to any restaurant you like, assured that Little Miss Condiment will show her very best manners.
And don't get me started on those awful family restaurants. They are loud and nerve wracking and so that makes it okay to let kids run wild? Do you like to eat in that atmosphere? Do you? Because if that's the only place you take your kids, and if you let them act like animals because no one will really notice, then that's how you're training them to act. All the time.
That said. This rant represents my most-of-the-time philosophy. If you are sick, on a deadline, mentally drained, or otherwise not yourself - by all means dump them in front of a kid's meal and call it good. Just check your ass for ketchup when you stand up!
This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.
Friday, August 8, 2008
How Not to Be a Jerk With Kids in Public
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4 comments:
I just gave that empty threat last night... except for me, it wasn't fries with ketchup, it was balls of fried rice hitting the floor. Luckily, a game of napkin peek-a-boo distracted my 22-month old long enough for us to get our food and finish it before having to leave, but I am fully prepared to follow through with the threat if need be... even if that means cold food when I get home!
Jennifer Haile
http://4029sunriseblog.wordpress.com/
I agree 100%. We're always teaching our kids lessons, whether we know it or not. The question is, are we teaching them a good lesson or a bad one?
It's remarkable how seldom I've seen parents actually pack up their kids and leave a store or restaurant in response to tantruming. I have great admiration for parents who follow through, but it appears that many of them don't. I have a friend who threatens to call her child's teachers four times an hour, and the kid's behavior simply escalates.
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. So if you don't put your foot down and do what you said as a parent, especially out in public, you are pretty much setting yourself up for staying home or eating at jungle gyms. I worked in fine restaurants for a few years in my early twenties. At the time, I already had a couple of kids. I saw so many couple who had miserable meals and others who seemed to get their kids to sit up straight by a mere glance. I made it a point to make sure that they behaved themselves properly when dining out... or else I was going to be relegated to burgers for the rest of my dining days...
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