# I pit crying babies in public places **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 25, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368 "2010-01-25T15:52:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/81 "2010-01-25T22:24:52Z")
Has this thread divided into the “people who don’t have kids” vs. “the people who do have kids” yet? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/82 "2010-01-25T22:31:15Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Just kidding. Crying babies need to shut the fuck up. HA!! I can’t even read the rest of the thread. I am dying. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/83 "2010-01-25T22:42:21Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > Besides being, well, not at all the same thing, you do realize your silly sex metaphor actually supports my point: the learning process involves going out and doing at the appropriate age, not just staying home and approximating. It involves starting _when they’re the appropriate age_. Emphasis added, since it apparently went right over your little head the first time. And of course it was a silly, hyperbolic comparison; that’s the point. Seriously, what is so fucking hard about eating at a restaurant that a kid who’s old enough to have some kind of basic control over themself couldn’t figure it out the first time? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/84 "2010-01-25T22:55:06Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Hey! Where else do you expect me to park my 2009 Ford Behemoth? Besides, all those spots marked with a “C” are for patrons with children, right? Yeah, and that symbol with the seated person with a big curved shape under his butt? That means baby-with-a-full-diaper. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/85 "2010-01-25T23:00:30Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > So in answer to \*\*Yoorick’\*\*s question, basically what everyone else said. Not everything is for small children, and if you insist on bringing your little ones to grown up places, make sure they behave themselves. If they don’t, take them outside until they simmer down. No one wants to have a side dish of endless shrieking with their meal. The flip side is true too. If you don’t want to be subjected to kids, don’t go places that people with kids go. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/86 "2010-01-25T23:02:53Z")
Parent. Agree with OP. I wish I had $5 for every time I’ve had to go and walk around the outside of a restaurant with a crying or tantruming child, while the rest of the family stayed inside and finished their dinner. Which makes it all the more rage-inducing when someone else doesn’t bother to extend the same courtesy to fellow diners. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/87 "2010-01-25T23:30:43Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > Has this thread divided into the “people who don’t have kids” vs. “the people who do have kids” yet? Already there. It’s a vicious battle between the people who don’t have kids and think that any babies or small children in a restaurant should be quiet or their parents should distract them or take them out of hearing, and the people who do have kids and think that any babies or small children in a restaurant should be quiet or their parents should distract them or take them out of hearing. Beware the brawl! ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/88 "2010-01-25T23:41:36Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Maybe. My parents didn’t take me to a restaurant until I was four years old, and then it was just a Burger King. After that, it was either fast food, or greasy spoon diners; they were considered the only child-friendly establishments at the time. If my parents wanted a nice meal out, they got a babysitter or took me to grandma and grandpa’s house. This was back in the early 1970s. > > I don’t remember seeing very young children or babies in anything more upscale than a greasy spoon until the mid-to-late 1980s. Maybe toting babies to a fine dining establishment is a more acceptable now. What kind of restaurants are we talking about here? Since Dopers don’t eat at mid-end chains, are we talking about screaming babies in places like Charlie Trotter’s and the French Laundry? A neighborhood Indian restaurant? If you’re complaining about a screaming baby ruining your dining experience, and it’s a Denny’s we’re talking about, well … On the few occasions I have had to eat at Denny’s, such situations in which it was around 2:00 a.m. and I was starving, I would be irate over the lousy parents who have an infant out at such an inappropriate hour. I would probably also be wondering how to discretely gather enough information to make a call to Children’s Protective Services. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/89 "2010-01-25T23:43:34Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I would probably also be wondering how to discretely gather enough information to make a call to Children’s Protective Services. If you’re going to be a complete and total fucking moron, why bother being discrete about it? You’re certainly open enough with your stupidity on these boards. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/90 "2010-01-25T23:47:57Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > On the few occasions I have had to eat at Denny’s, such situations in which it was around 2:00 a.m. and I was starving, I would be irate over the lousy parents who have an infant out at such an inappropriate hour. I would probably also be wondering how to discretely gather enough information to make a call to Children’s Protective Services. Personally, I’d assume the family was on a lengthy road trip and chose Denny’s because it was open. It strikes me as far more probable than a local family just getting up at 2 a.m. to go out for a meal, though I suppose it’s happened. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/91 "2010-01-25T23:52:10Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > If you’re going to be a complete and total fucking moron, why bother being discrete about it? You’re certainly open enough with your stupidity on these boards. Shouldn’t you be worshiping a diaper somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/92 "2010-01-25T23:52:21Z")
So there you are, at a nice restaurant, and there are a couple of kids, seven or eight years old, playing tag between the dinner tables. Is surreptitiously tripping them as they run by your table acceptable? Just asking, yup, that’s it, I’m just asking. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/93 "2010-01-25T23:55:52Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Shouldn’t you be worshiping a diaper somewhere? Hey, moron, i have no kids, and i tend to get very annoyed that people whose children are loud and obnoxious in public places. But i’m also smart enough to recognize that simply having an infant in a restaurant at 2 a.m. is not a reasonable cause for calling CPS. The fact that you apparently believe otherwise is fairly consistent with the sheer dribbling idiocy you have displayed on this board recently. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/94 "2010-01-25T23:56:16Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Strangle it. After all, if you’re put into a small room with a crying child, you could–conceivably–go insane, and then it would just be a case of self defense. At least, I’m honest enough to admitt I would do whatever was necessary to survive. I wonder, Freudian Slit, what you’re reactions would be in a life or death situation? At least, I don’t advocate cannibalizing them. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/95 "2010-01-25T23:57:23Z")
I’m just throwing random thoughts here. 1. I’m curious about how long the episode in the OP went on. I’m not saying it’s okay to let children annoy other people. I’m just wondering what his threshold is. (I am actually assuming that it went on for more than minutes, since he says several people were bothered by it.) 2. Just an observation: I think some of this is partly because of something I’ve been watching develop for quite a while now. A lot of people seem to want kids to do things they aren’t old enough for, even to the point of insisting others accomodate them, or changing the things to accomodate the kid. We seem to have lost the idea of “not old enough” or “growing into”. 3. The OP said, take the baby out or stick a bottle in its mouth. I would agree with that, but I have to ask, what about pulling baby out of the seat and nursing him? Bother anyone, or is that a whole different discussion? 4. And I’m sitting her wondering, were we just lucky with out kids? They didn’t do the screaming in restaurants thing, and they never needed to be taken out to quiet down. We started taking the oldest out with us when he was weeks old and never had a problem. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/96 "2010-01-25T23:57:55Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Hey, moron, i have no kids, and i tend to get very annoyed that people whose children are loud and obnoxious in public places. > > But i’m also smart enough to recognize that simply having an infant in a restaurant at 2 a.m. is not a reasonable cause for calling CPS. The fact that you apparently believe otherwise is fairly consistent with the sheer dribbling idiocy you have displayed on this board recently. Hey, idiot this the BBQ Pit where hyperbole is pretty common. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/97 "2010-01-26T00:03:30Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > I would probably also be wondering how to discretely gather enough information to make a call to Children’s Protective Services. Wouldn’t the sensible thing to do be to check first if they were on the run, protecting their biological child from being snatched by adopters? Your call could make that happen, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/98 "2010-01-26T00:03:49Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Hey, idiot this the BBQ Pit where hyperbole is pretty common. Trouble is, you can’t advocate something absurd, then advocate something similar and claim the second incident is hyperbolic. We’re not mind-readers. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/99 "2010-01-26T00:04:24Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Seriously, what is so fucking hard about eating at a restaurant that a kid who’s old enough to have some kind of basic control over themself couldn’t figure it out the first time? Heh, how perfectly circular. The issue is of course what “old enough” means. Age merely indicates a certain degree of _average_ experience. People generally learn through experience. Forbid the experience, and you impede the learning. I’ve seen _adults_ who had poor social skills - indeed, who behave like self-entitled assholes. What was “so fucking hard” about behaving properly, that _they_ did not “figure it out”? Not that I’m implying that self-entitled assholes got that way because their parents did not take 'em out it public! Rather, that there is no ‘magic age’ at which one miraculously learns how to behave properly. It is a constant _process_ of enculturation. Locking a kid at home “until they are ready” is not a good option. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368/100 "2010-01-26T00:15:06Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Trouble is, you can’t advocate something absurd, then advocate something similar and claim the second incident is hyperbolic. We’re not mind-readers. I don’t think it is absurd to say that you would kill a baby in situation where it is your life or the baby’s life. The fact that some people have lived so sheltered a life that they cannot even process the theoreticals of situations like that is absurd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-crying-babies-in-public-places/526368.md?page=6)