Children at buffets: What on earth?

[Master_Wang-Ka]

(“Hey!”)

(“Hey, QUEEN OF THE PIG PEOPLE! Yeah, YOU! I’m TALKIN’ to you, here!”)

[Tripler]

*Originally posted by Sparrow *
**Is it possible that there’s a cultural angle here? For example in some cultures, such as Arab, it’s quite acceptable to take food of another person’s plate. **

You’re kidding, right? I’ve never heard/seen this in any culture. Hell, even the Discovery Channel would confirm the fact that taking another homo sapiens’ food from their hands/plate would invoke certain survival instincts in said primate.

Tripler
But if you have a cite, I’ll eat my hat.

[Capcha]

*Originally posted by Sparrow *
**Is it possible that there’s a cultural angle here? For example in some cultures, such as Arab, it’s quite acceptable to take food of another person’s plate. **

WOOHOOO there buddy. Got any proof? I know by fact that if it is a family gathering or close friends, they allow that. But not to strangers, na-ha no way.
As far as kids…i hate them but tolerate. I would defenitly think of a lot of things to say to the mother of the kid in MamaT’s story, but in real life, i wouldn’t say anything significant.

And the fear of getting out of line by correcting a stranger child’s behavior is defenitly a fact. Sometimes i itch to put out my foot for those restaurants running goblins;)

[Master_Wang-Ka]

Well, duh.

MY kid ROUTINELY eats off my plate.

And KNOWS better than to eat off someone ELSE’s plate.

And precisely how is it “out of line” to correct the behavior of someone else’s child, insofar as that kid is in MY personal space, trying to eat off MY plate?

One might as well blame the child’s mother for “failing to teach the child behavior patterns that could save the little monster from having its arm ripped out of its socket for use as a bludgeon on it…”

[ivylass]

*Originally posted by auntie em *
*I think you’re onto something, ivylass. I know that even in the home of a friend, I have a problem correcting a child’s behavior. I think my fear (as a childless-by-choice person who thinks that people who do have kids are braver and more mighty than Xena), is that I’ll cross some boundary that the parents in question have established: “We never issue commands with Johnny–instead we phrase it as a request, such as, ‘Could you please stop licking my shoe?’ And actually, we do allow him to lick our shoes. It seems to calm him.”

**

“Well, you may be able to lick shoes in your house, but not in mine.”

My nieces and nephews are allowed to climb all over the back of the furniture in their house. They are not allowed to do so in mine. I have told them so, and even their fathers got on their cases for not listening to Aunt Ivylass about climbing on the furniture.

My house, my mortgage, my rules.

[Isabelle]

I was at a buffet once and my nephew licked the macaroni and cheese serving spoon then put it back. My sister just said to him
“Derek don’t do that” She didn’t even get the spoon and take it off the buffet or tell anyone so they could replace the macaroni and cheese dish. I was humiliated.

[kputt]

*Originally posted by Mama Tiger *
**Papa Tiger and I were eating at a buffet this evening, and a completely strange 5-year-old boy came up to him and, without asking or anything, just reached up and helped himself to a sausage off Papa Tiger’s plate, while the mother just watched!

So Papa Tiger walked over to the mother and very politely said, “While I don’t mind eating with children around, I really would prefer that they don’t eat the food off my plate.” The mother made no response, not even an apology.

What’s with kids like this? And the mother? I mean, to walk up to a total stranger and take food with Mom watching, and she doesn’t even think it was worth an apology, let alone correcting the child?

I was just completely flabbergasted, I have to admit. Was it unusual for us to be surprised by this behavior? **

Looks like the mom told the kid to do that.

[kputt]

*Originally posted by Wicked Blue *
**Things like this happen because parents don’t watch their little mutants. I was at a Chinese buffet once and there was a kid running around like a little monster while his mother sat and ate her food without a care in the world. This kid had a plastic horn(!!), and was marching around blowing the shit out of it, much to the annoyance of everyone there. He was also making the rounds and stopping at every table to sit and chat. My husband, who is not as nice as I am, scolded him and told him to go sit at his own table. When someone finally complained to the management, the mother took the horn away and the kid wailed the rest of the time. People actually clapped when they left.

How did that mother know that the man sitting at the next table wasn’t a child molester who was waiting for a chance to let the kid come and sit next to him? She didn’t, and yet she let her kid run around and talk to a restaurant full of strangers. How did the mother know in Mama Tiger’s case know that there wasn’t anyone waiting for a chance to take advantage of the situation of a loose child? She didn’t either.
When I was 5 I wasn’t allowed to run wild anywhere but my own backyard. If we were out shopping or in a restaurant, I was next to my mother and didn’t have the chance to go feral. **

KIDS ARE NOT MUTANTS. KIDS ARE HUMAN BEINGS JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.:smack: :mad:

[Krisfer_the_Cat]

Seems to me that most of the stories posted are PARENTING failures. Children, like any other pet, have to be trained in appropriate behavior.

My angelic semi perfect child(only cause FairyChatMom has the copyright on Perfect Child) is very helpful. The last time we were at a buffet he accidentally knocked the serving spoon onto the floor. And like the good Bear he is, he picked it up and started to put it back in the food container. Fortunately I was right there and stopped him. I took the spoon and said" Sweety, don’t put it back in the food after its been on the floor. The floor is dirty. We need to give it to a server." And voila! A server had seen the incident and was on her way to take the spoon. Hopefully, he will remember that incident.

[kputt]

*Originally posted by welby *
**I’ve said this often, and shall repeat it here: All children should be managed with cattle prods. Were this the case, there wouldn’t be serious issue such as sausage theft to deal with. But nooooo, there’s people out there that think kids are actually cute, and would feel sorry for the little monsters. Appoint me to rule that world and this will be the fourth Sweeping Declaration to Make the World a Better Place. **

We all once were kids. I guess we all should be managed with cattle prods. If your parents thought the same way, you wouldn’t even be here and if they did manage you with a cattle prod, you would have some very serious issues. People, grow up!:smack: :mad:

[Necros]

I don’t think it matter whose house and mortgage it is. It’s MY shoe your kid is licking, and I’m going to tell him to stop. I don’t care how you rear your child, but when he bugs me, I’m going to deal with him.

Honestly, though, kids that are social are fine most of the time. I’d much rather deal with one of them than one of the shy ones. If there was some kid walking around asking people how I was doing and asking to shake my hand, I’d be cool with that.

I just try to treat them as “tiny, stupid adults”, and they seem to get a kick out of that.

[kputt]

*Originally posted by Krisfer the Cat *
**Seems to me that most of the stories posted are PARENTING failures. Children, like any other pet, have to be trained in appropriate behavior.

My angelic semi perfect child(only cause FairyChatMom has the copyright on Perfect Child) is very helpful. The last time we were at a buffet he accidentally knocked the serving spoon onto the floor. And like the good Bear he is, he picked it up and started to put it back in the food container. Fortunately I was right there and stopped him. I took the spoon and said" Sweety, don’t put it back in the food after its been on the floor. The floor is dirty. We need to give it to a server." And voila! A server had seen the incident and was on her way to take the spoon. Hopefully, he will remember that incident. **

CHILDREN ARE NOT PETS!!!
YOU DON"T TRAIN CHILDREN!!! YOU TEACH THEM!!! IF YOU THINK THAT CHILDREN ARE PETS, THEN YOU SHOULDN"T HAVE THEM!:mad:

[kputt]

Children aren’t stupid. They might be nieve and not as knowledgeable as an adult, but that doesn’t make them stupid.

[amarinth]

*Originally posted by ThatDuckIsEvil *
**MamaT, a similar incident (although not as personal-space-invading as my own dinner plate) happened to me at the grocery store. A woman in line behind me with two small girls, I’m guessing 4 and 6 years old. One of the girls pulled something right out of my cart. My first instinct was Hey!, second was to laugh. (It is Funny - kids are funny, you’ve got to admit) THEN I looked at the mother, and she was TOTALLY embarassed and she apologized profusely, then she told her child, “That’s not your cart, you dont take things from other people’s cart.” The child was suitably embarassed and I’m sure she’ll NEVER go near someone else’s cart again anytime soon.
**

That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Kids mess up - they’re still learning, it’s ok. The grown up in charge is supposed to correct the kid. In your case, she apologized and did. Kid learned. That’s the way it should go.

The grand majority of the time, that’s what seems to happen (or at least around me) I see good parents. Perhaps I’m lucky. But the ones that aren’t, really aren’t.
Weirdest one, I’m sitting in a restroom stall at a mall (multiple stalls, I’m just using one of them). I hear tiny feet running into the restroom. And then this child crawls under the door of my stall. I’m suitably shocked. Luckily, so is he (women’s restroom - but what did he think he would find behind a locked stall door?) so he crawls back out. I then hear someone else enter. I finish and walk out and tell his mother “Your child crawled into the stall I was in.” Her smiling, apparently unembarrassed reply “Oh, I just can’t control him, he runs where he wants.”
That’s not the way it should go.

[Krisfer_the_Cat]

*Originally posted by kputt *
**CHILDREN ARE NOT PETS!!!
YOU DON"T TRAIN CHILDREN!!! YOU TEACH THEM!!! IF YOU THINK THAT CHILDREN ARE PETS, THEN YOU SHOULDN"T HAVE THEM!:mad: **

Good Hell wench I was making a joke. Maybe you should go away until YOU learn some manners. Yelling at me is unappropriate and makes me wonder if YOU are not more than a child yourself. Now please let the grownups continue our discussion.

       Thank you

[kputt]

*Originally posted by Krisfer the Cat *
**Good Hell wench I was making a joke. Maybe you should go away until YOU learn some manners. Yelling at me is unappropriate and makes me wonder if YOU are not more than a child yourself. Now please let the grownups continue our discussion.

       Thank you **

ok. I just get sick and tired of people referring to children as non-humans and stuff.

I’m sorry for lashing out at you, but after seeing that one poster call them mutants and that other saying they should be managed with cattle prods, that flipped me over the top.

[Coldfire]

Actually, Krisfer the Cat, whilst kputt obviously got mad and yelled a bit, she didn’t break any rules per se. You did though, by calling her a “wench”.

But as the matter seems to have resolved itself, we’ll just leave it at that.

[Krisfer_the_Cat]

OOPS!

I apologize… it was a heck of a lot nicer than what I was thinking.

Sorry kputt…

[Ferret_Herder]

*Originally posted by kputt *
I’m sorry for lashing out at you, but after seeing that one poster call them mutants and that other saying they should be managed with cattle prods, that flipped me over the top.

The “cattle prod” poster was also making a joke; perhaps you missed the part where he goes on to say what should happen when he becomes ruler of the world. He has children and doesn’t abuse them.

[kputt]

I’m sorry. I guess I’m not to keen today on picking up jokes.

BTW, I’m a man and not a woman. Someone referred me as a she when in fact I’m a he. They made the same mistake in another forum also. Could it be my screenname?