Good. I won’t feel as guilty anymore.
That was Swift’s satirical attack against the English mis-rule of Ireland that had resulted in a starving population.
A giant slingshot would probably be a good self-regulating child removal tool. Problematic children would quickly shoot each other out of the building, and might be willing to fling the occasional baby out for the right bribe. As long as the sole remaining child in control of the device were to take pot shots at his own parents, I’d be satisfied.
This irritates me the most, because my sister-in-law does this all the time. It’s just a way of saying, it’s not my fault, it’s the kid’s fault. :mad:
I knew I liked you.
Honestly, if my baby started crying in public I’d try to calm it down as best as possible, but why should I be expected to accomodate other diners? Screw you, that’s the manager’s job, not mine…and the feelings of my baby are more important to me than YOUR feelings. So, if it’s taking her a little longer to calm down than usual you can just butt the hell out and, if you really feel so badly about it, YOU can move to another table. Don’t tell a complete stranger how to take care of his kid.
Having worked many years in restaurants I can appreciate how helpless the managers are in this situation.
My strategy was to take over, buns, crackers, straws, plastic anything, really whatever we could find. We would even offer to hold the child, cause sometimes that confuses them enough to buy the parents time to hoover their dinners. Mostly, just go by and see if there is anything you can do; warm a bottle, bring a toy, box the meals, cancel the entrees, point directions to an alcove or entryway that might help.
Truthfully, most parents are mortified, and some just flat out don’t know what to do. “He/she’s never like this!” Sometimes they just need a little direction, a little help. Some of the biggest tips I received were from parents of screaming infants who received help instead of condemnation.
I thought we were finished with the whooshing. 
I fail to see the relevance. Not a single one of those parents alleged their child was anywhere near a Denny’s.
Just in case you’re serious, you live in a world with other people. Try to remember that. You accomodate other diners for the same reason that they don’t climb over your lap on the way to their table. It’s rude not to take others into consideration.
I’m pretty sure that even in Toronto they have indoor restrooms.
Well, an angry crying baby can easily reach 115 decibels at peak scream. Normal conversation is about 60 decibels or less. Possibly the practice of keeping voices down during conversation is what avoids the need to censor conversation topics.
Then don’t expect that a complete stranger will help you raise (or in most cases, fail to properly raise) your kid. Besides, if your baby is screaming and you are just sitting there eating, you don’t seem to be taking your baby’s feelings all that seriously.
What’s that? You want to finish your dinner? Ah, I see - your feelings are the most important, which is what led you to bring a baby to a restaurant in the first place! I hope your kid learns some manners someplace other than at home…
Well, it would all depend on the age of the kid. To be honest, ultra small babies can sleep through the apocalypse, and get woken up by a gnats sneeze … and are perfectly happy to have whacked out sleep/wake cycles where they may have been asleep in the car on the drive there, are awake and happy sitting in the car seat at the table, and will be happily asleep back in the car. I have also seen my 3 year old goddaughter on road trips sleeping in the car, awake for eating and fallign asleep when back in the car.
On long road trips you sometimes have kids not on a normal sleep and wake cycle and it isn’t abusive, it simply is. My parents tended to travel by sharing driving for up to 16 hours, so my brother and I tended to play and sleep in the back seat of the car, and I can remember many trips rolling into a hotel at odd hours.
So my next question to you … if a kid is homeschooled, and therefore freed from the traditional ‘school hours’, is it abuse if the family decides to have their awake hours from 8 at night to 8 in the morning, instead of 8 in the morning til 8 at night? It is all in perspective, the kid can get perfectly adequate food and sleep when it is dark out, it does not require the sun to be in the sky though that is the ‘norm’ for the rest of society.
Maybe some of you should go back and re-read what I said. I said, “if my baby started crying in public I’d try to calm it down as best as possible…” Meaning, of course, that I wouldn’t just let my kid run around screaming her head off. If she needed a bottle, she’d get it. If she needed to be rocked or held, she’d get it. If she needed a trip outside for some quiet time while my dinner freezes, she’d get that, too. However, I’d do that because my baby needed my attention, not because some stranger might be inconvenienced. Oh, how awful, you’re not mature or capable enough to enjoy your dinner while a kid acts like a kid. Big deal. Taking care of my kid is my responsibility, taking care of you isn’t.
Don’t bring my kid to a restaurant? Ok, fine, if it was one of those “adult restaurants” where people go to eat foie gras and sample red wine then, yeah, of course. Leave the tykes at home. If it’s a normal restaurant with high-chairs, crayons, kids’ meals, and mazes on the placemats? My kid has as much right to be there as you do, and you can just shut up.
And woe unto anyone with the gall to tell me to “shut that fucking kid up.” He’d be wearing his dinner home.
Agreed 100%. Some “adults” in this thread are such whiny little bitches.
I wouldn’t go as far as a physical altercation, but I can say with all confidence that anyone who said that to me would be getting an earful from me. And not from across the restaurant either.
Ha. That’s a fucking laugh. You’d never even hear them, as you’ve made perfectly clear that your world ends at the edge of your tablecloth.
I can only imagine the pleasure of sharing an 8-hour flight with you and your brood.
Hey, if I’m at a moderately priced restaurant frequented by families, I’ll happily put up with a bit of crying from a baby whilst its parents try to pacify it. I’ll shoot them a sympathetic glance or try to pull a funny face at the baby to see if it helps.
But when a baby is just consistently crying at the top of its lungs and the parents are not doing anything to try and calm it, as was described in the OP, then I’ll get annoyed.
A family with a baby making that much noise does not have “just as much right to be in that restaurant” as I do, in the same way that if I suddenly started screaming my head off, I would very quickly lose my right to be in that restaurant as well, I’m sure.
Whiny bitch alert! 
Thoughtless asshole alert!