By Andrew Lowcock
If you’re a regular diner at restaurants, you’ve probably encountered a crying, screaming or misbehaving child at least once, and wished they weren’t disrupting your meal. To counter this, some restaurants (and other businesses) are taking it into their own hands and banning young children from their premises.
A restaurant in the American state of Pennsylvania has recently taken this step, banning all children aged six and under in response to complaints from other diners.
The owner of the restaurant, Mike Vuick, says his issue isn’t really with the children, but with their parents, who are “gradually diminishing” their cooperation.
After informing regular customers of his decision to impose a ban on children, Mr Vuick says he was deluged with emails – overwhelmingly in favour of his decision.
Customer Stephanie Kelley, mother of an infant child, was not one of the majority, labelling the policy “ignorant”, but Mr Vuick says local laws allow him to make his decision and he expects absolutely no drop in custom once the ban is implemented this coming weekend.
Other restaurants have implemented similar bans in recent times, arguing there are more suitable family restaurants for parents to take their young children to eat at, however many parents argue that such bans are discriminatory and should apply to noisy and loud adults as well, not just children.
Food blogger for The Guardian Simon Majumdar argued last year that such stances should be applauded, because if “I kicked off in my local bistro, other diners would, quite rightly, want me to be removed until I settled down”.
“I don’t think it is too harsh to ask the parents of wailing or misbehaving children to do the same,” he wrote.
It’s not just restaurants getting into the act either. Malaysian Airlines recently banned babies from travelling in first class on some of its flights after complaints from passengers, while some hotels have banned children too.
In Australia it’s much tougher to implement such a rule due to various anti-discrimination laws and policies – in 1994, a Melbourne restaurant turned away a couple with a five week old baby and were found to have discriminated against them.
The anecdotal evidence however suggests there may be quite a large market for the next business that dares to say ‘no kids allowed’.
Should businesses have the right to impose a blanket ban on children, regardless if they’re noisy or not? Would you support a business which imposed a ‘no kids’ policy? We’d like to hear your thoughts.
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When we had young kids, our friends and us used to go out to dinner at the Pub food barns….noisy venue and lousy food but it was kid friendly.
We enjoyed each others company while we took turns at looking after our kids playing in the playground. If we went to dinner at restaurant with our children we would ensure thay were quiet and well behaved.
Consequently I have no issue with kids in restaurants. The issue I have is with parents who can switch off, be oblivious to the rancor their kids are creating, not look after their own “people disturbing’ children and then become angry and call us discriminatory if we say don’t bring the kids to restaurants.
Bring the kids, look after them. Want to have a quiet dinner without looking after the children, leave them at home. Have no one to leave them with; Stay home!!!
I run a small boutique hotel in a remote country area. We advise that the hotel is not suitable for children under 12yo. We do have some children stay after we’ve gone through the reasons why we believe the hotel is not suitable [steep stairs, open fire places, no kids meals, quiet environment etc] and generally it is OK. However, there are some parents who have little regard for the needs or wellbeing of other people and their “little darling” is left to run amuck. The worst place for this is in the restaurant…waiting on table is hard enough without having a moving target. Even after having asked parents to please ensure their child remains seated this is often ignored and cause us great problems and raises the stress levels in the work environment as you’re now a child minder as well. Unfortunately I believe that a blanket ban is now required as there are a growing number of people in the world who don’t “give a stuff” about how their actions effect other people. I was recently given a bad rap on Tripadvisor by a guest who was having a party in their room late at night and disturbing other guests. I told them to tone it down…they complained in a public forum. Luckily another guest backed me up as being a good hotelier, but there is obviously a growing trend of “me” and stuff “them”!
Don’t like kids – never have – there should be children free days at shopping centres also
Personally, I go out to dinner to relax and enjoy a conversation which is nearly impossible with children screaming, running around or misbehaving. I don’t think it’s necessary to ban children but I would like to see more parents taking charge of their children with discipline or making decisions like, we don’t take our kids out after 8.00 p.m. at night. In public places children should be taught how to behave. Kids that are dragged out to restaurants, hotels etc are bored out of their minds and I feel sorry for them.
Just put a poker machine in the corner of your restaurant.
Problem solved no children allowed. That should solve your anti discrimination legislation issues. Now you will need to deal with the anti poker machine lobby. The nanny state is alive and well. Can I say that about nannies or is that discrimination?
Parents don’t need an expensive restaurant to teach their children table manners. If you want to teach your children how to eat in a restaurant then do this in a family restaurant, children are not being disadvantaged by being banned from fine dining. If I was waiting for a table in an expensive restaurant and a table with kids were being seated I would leave, quite simply. I would also pay more for an adults only flight. There are so many restaurants and so much entertainment created solely for children why can’t there be a few pleasures for adults only. As well as high end restaurants children do not belong in Gold Class. Recently while waiting to enter a Gold Class movie I watched a mother walk in with her 6 month old baby and I quite clearly explained to the attendant that if the child was distruptive during the movie I would be expecting a refund. Within 15 minutes the baby was screaming and the experience was ruined. I got my refund but what I wanted was a luxury movie date for a film I had been looking forward to for months.
its my business, its my land … shouldn’t I retain the right to say who or what can enter my property?
Particular venues should have the right to express who they want their cliental to be, and I think I have the right to choose such a venue. If having a dress code is fine then why not children?
I can not go complaining about simply bad eating habits and a snotty face. My tolerance for children and their parents is very low yes, I accept that and choose not to go to places where young children usually are. However I have paid many times for an expensive meal and not been able to stomach it.
Children are children and can not sit still and be quiet for more than a few minutes even if their parents keep a tight control.
We have enough family restaurants in Melbourne where kids run wild and have fun. All you politically correct idiots can take your kids to those places. I used to take my young children to those bistros.The truth is, and ASK ANY PARENT, they will say that going out with their own kids is a nightmare. Now I want some peace when I dine out. Last night in a nice dining place, a father with 3 children sat at a table next to ours. The kids were extremely well behaved, HOWEVER, they were getting up and down, dropping things on the floor, swapping seats and made me feel very nervous. I felt I had to watch them as well or they will knock my glass of wine off the table. AND THESE WERE GOOD KIDS, HONESTLY.
I will DEFINITELY GO TO RESTAURANTS WERE KIDS ARE BANNED.
It isn’t only restaurants that have to consider this. Operators in the B&B and hosted accommodation industry must comply with the anti-discrimination laws and some around Australia have been prosecuted for advertising a ‘no children’ policy. Exemptions are rarely given to even the most adult-orientated businesses. Members are currently blogging on our website about the problems inherent in accepting bookings from minors during ‘schoolies week’. The anti-discrimination laws do not take into account the legalities of entering into a contract with a minor, or their liability for any damage they may cause during their stay. As the professional organisation representing this sector of the tourism industry, Bed & Breakfast, Farmstay and Accommodation Australia regularly reminds its members of their obligations in this regard.
Having just perused the new National OH/S laws about to land on our doorstep, with new laws to include personnel coming on site to pick up a spouse etc. Businesses will have to include the looking after of children when they are on site at a business. Business will be liable if a child injures themselves. You may find that many businesses will ban children for this very reason. The law is about to change so that a business may be liable for any incidents even though the personnel involved are not an employee.
Regardless of whether is is moral or not, businesses will have the right to protect themselves from litigation.
If children have regular controlled meal times at home where they sit at the table to eat and don’t run around and play with their food then by all means take them to a restaurant. But parents who can’t control their kids have not taught them how to enjoy a meal quietly and seated at a table then please leave them at home.
A blanket ban just penalises the people who know how to act in a socially acceptable way. So for me no ban I’d rather be annoyed while out eating than to have someone’s freedom endangered because a few people have control issues with their kids. Just get over it folks learn to live and let live a bit – is that too much to ask???
It’s not the children who are at fault, it seems to be a generation of parents, many of whom do not believe it is their role (or right) to control their children. I am amazed at the reaction of some parents when it is suggested to them that their child’s behaviour is not acceptable.
The cost of quality dining is now so high that I feel inclined to question a restaurant on its child policy before booking.
However, children in restaurants are a great feature of European dining places, so it is possible to have quality dining and children in the same environment.
I love kids and want some of my own one day. But it is definately uncomfortable and frustrating when a child is running around or screaming.
Yes it really depends on how the parents have brought up kids, but unfortunettely now kids are no longer smacked when they are naughty. Therefore kids behave differently compaired to 20 years ago.
There are places and times that are apropriate for young children. As an adult with a child its your responsibility to stay at home with your kids if they are too young to take out to adult environments.
A customer who has paid for an expensive meal in a high class restaurant is not going to tolerate young children.
There should be certain places made accsessable to young children such as coffee shops or family diners.
You wouldnt take a 5 year old on an expensive holiday overseas that would be just pointless because the child would be too young to understand the values and appreciate the surroundings of the destination. It would be a complete waste of time and money.
If you have kids stay at home or go to mcDonalds. And there is also nothing worse than a child screaming during a movie session at the local cinema. Thats why they have spit the dummy sessions for babies and kids. Why not have the same for restaurants.
Eating a meal is an enjoyable thing, lets keep it that way. People go out to eat for the enjoyment of being out of home. Its a trend and a fashion. A different environment and an escape from home.
Ive worked in hospitality for many years and kids make a very big mess on the tables and carpet. I know its my job to clean it up but thats a major example that they are not ready to eat out in an adult environment.
What do you think?
An outright ban is too reactionary and caters to the growing trend of people not tolerating children and they usually don’t have any themselves, or theirs have grown up and they don’t want to go back through it again. I perfectly understand that going to a good restaurant for a meal is not something you want interrupted by bad behaviour, child or adult, and if this happens I will be one of the first to complain about it.
But it is quite correct in that it is usually the parents to blame in the case of screaming children being past their bedtime etc. We regularly took our daughter (now 30) to restuarants when she was very young because her behaviour was usually exemplary and she was engaging – the waiters and other diners loved her and interacted with her more than with other adults. We regularly had other patrons stop at our table on the way out and congratulate us on her behaviour and good manners, possibly in relief that their first thoughts about the presence of a young child were not warranted! But my second daugher, a somewhat precocious, overactive and inquisitive child, we assessed as not being suitable to inflict on diners other than McDonalds where she regularly spilt lemonade and crawled uder the table. On occasions where we took her and she misbehaved, ruining the experience for both us and other diners, then we left.
It does come down to parental influence and their decision to bring the child to a good restaurant. Taking a child somewhere special should be a valuble part of their upbringing and teaching values and behaviour. If we ban all children irrespective of their personalities, upbringing, etc. that could be too extreem and short sighted, in my view.