Feature
August
04
Keeping the Noise Down
by Terry Trahan, Jr.
We’ve all been there. You plan a special first date or anniversary dinner at a fine restaurant, but the candlelight does nothing to spark a romantic mood when the rugrat in the corner is throwing his third temper tantrum in 10 minutes.
Perhaps you are discussing an important business move for your company over lunch with a few associates. Meanwhile, a sugar-fueled kid zooms past your table in airplane mode, raising decibel levels and knocking over chairs.
Well, one restaurant owner in Pennsylvania has had enough.
On July 16, Mike Vuick implemented a new policy at McDain’s Restaurant and Golf Center in Monroeville, Pa., that keeps children ages 6 and under out of the restaurant.
In a story published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Vuick cited noise and other disturbances as catalysts for implementing the ban on children.
Vuick has never offered a children’s menu and doesn’t want to jeopardize the restaurant’s adult atmosphere.
Opinion has been divided on the issue. While some parents argue that their children learn table manners and how to properly behave in public places by frequenting restaurants, others think the policy is a needed one.
“This is a great idea,” one reader posted on a blog managed by The Wall Street Journal. “I like kids. I have a kid. I’m a teacher. And I know all about how bad parents make this a miserable world.
“When I go out to spend my extremely hard-earned money in a restaurant, I don’t want my dinner ruined by running, screaming children in the nominal care of adults who think their children are cute. There are plenty of child-friendly restaurants. Take the kids there and leave the rest of us in peace.”
Justin Conklin, general manager at Cristiano Ristorante, said the fine European-inspired restaurant in Houma has no plans to ban children from the dining room. If a patron complains about an unruly child, the restaurant’s staff discusses the complaint with a parent to resolve the issue.
“Families tend to come in earlier,” Conklin said. “We can also offer to put a family of four with two kids in a private area.”
Though the Houma restaurant rarely receives complaints, children don’t always follow the rules that parents have established for dining at restaurants.
But that can be part of the learning process.
“Taking kids out to eat is an important part of their social development, but not all restaurants are the right ones,” said Dr. Angie Pellegrin, a child clinical psychologist from Houma. “You have to start with your expectations planned out.”
Children should understand that unacceptable behavior will not be allowed to continue, Pellegrin said. That can mean eating the rest of dinner at home in a takeout box if a child refuses to behave, or using dessert as incentive for good behavior.
“You can’t be afraid of parenting in public,” Pellegrin said.
Back in Pennsylvania, Vuick will no longer give parents the chance to teach table manners to their children at his place.
And he isn’t alone.
Other businesses, from movie theaters to airlines, are now considering policies that would provide their customers with peace and quiet by keeping kids and the distractions they bring out.
Time will tell if that’s the right business decision.
Until then, I wonder if they’ve thought about cellphones.
