Dave Smith wrote:

> ~patches~ wrote:
>
>
>>>any child whose parents can afford to take them to a 4-star restaurant,
>>>and are willing to inflict the inherent obnoxia of a preschooler on
>>>people expecting a relatively refined dining experience is likely a
>>>spoiled brat, yes.
>>
>>I'm sorry but I disagree. You see we raised our kids and we exposed
>>them to the finer element in dining. But, we had the rule if they acted
>>up in any manner, they were out the door and that is how it should be.
>>They should not be allowed to disrupt other diners and there is a
>>certain decorum they needed to learn for public dining.
>
>
> I certainly admire that sentiment, but I have to ask, if you were part way
> through the main course and into a bottle of wine and the kids started acting up
> would you really get up and leave? I have seen to many parents allow their kids
> to run around in restaurants.
>
>
Yes I would leave. When the kids were infants, if they started crying,
one of us usually me would take the crying kid out of the restaurant.
As they got older, they were not allowed to run around in restaurants
because we feel that is rude and can be quite dangerous. We took the
same approach when shopping too. Our theory is that while our kids are
the centre of our universe, they aren't the centre of anyone else's
universe so they were taught from a very young age that certain
behaviours are not appropriate in public.

Funny story - Years ago when our oldest was about 3 years old and the
next was 2, we stopped at a cute restaurant in Duluth, Minnisota for
breakfast. Well, you've never seen such well behaved kids! I think it
had something to do with the huge stuffed bear in a standing pose with
mouth wide open about 4 ft from our table