Out of the mouths of Babes.. " Look a Cockroach"

An increasing number of parents are permitting their children the valuable experience of eating at  fine dining restaurants, but how many forget to teach their children manners and  the rules of dining etiquette?

I remember a number of years ago enjoying a meal at a first class seafood restaurant with my partner.  There was a family sitting at a nearby table, consisting of mom and dad, another couple and 3 children aged between 5 and 9.  The children were competing to get their parents attention, and when that didn’t happen the misbehavior began with the children giggling with mischievous intent.  They started loading their spoons with food and flicking the contents at each other, there were shrieks of laughter from the children and loud discussion between them of where the food landed.  The father told the children to stop their behavior then immediately turned back to continue with his conversation with the other couple.

The children were bored, they then began kicking each other under the table and giggling, the game became a bit rough at one point with tears and loud sobs from the youngest child.  The Mother spoke quickly to the children, rubbed the youngest child’s leg and murmured something into his ear to settle him down.  At this  time the second oldest girl, who would have been around 7, looked up toward the roof wide eye and yelled at the top of her voice “Look Dad, there’s a big cockroach up there!!”

Everything went deadly quiet in the restaurant; all eyes turned toward the child then followed her wide eyed stare to a plastic lobster that was displayed in a fishing net on the roof of the restaurant.  The whole scenario was quite comical, but at that particular moment – the wait staff and supervisors look at each other appalled, not knowing what to do.  The diners horrified at first, breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw what she was looking at, the parents suffice to say could not finish their meal or pay their bill quick enough. The stunned looks on the other diner’s faces, and the ensuing laughter and shaking of heads when the family left the restaurant said it all.

Yes, these children were bored so of course fertile ground for bad behavior.  But what could these parents have done to change their children’s behavior before leaving home that night?

• They could have been positive role models and teachers from the start by discussing the right and wrong types of etiquette in front of their children from a young age as an indirect way to teach manners.
• They could have discussed the expected rules of behavior and etiquette in the restaurant that night before leaving home.
• Both parents could have captured their children’s gaze and lifted an eyebrow or moved their head to the side just to let the children know that they are onto them and remind their children about their earlier discussion.
• They could have taken the children to a quiet corner or a restroom to have a word with them about their behavior.
• Recognize that there are times they need to switch over from Parent to ‘Trainer Mode’ when are in public with their little tyrants!

As parents, we all react differently to our children in these types of situations.  Feel free to add your own comments and advice on what these parents could have done.

Technorati Tags: consideration of others, good manners in a restaurant, restaurant etiquette