I've never been to a TRH but after reading this thread I don't think I'd ever go there. I remember eating at a Rainforest cafe, when my kids were little, and that place was unbearably loud between the sound effects and the loud diners. I can't imagine dining at a place that boasts about being louder than that! I would, however, be livid if I were at Alinea (the restaurant in Chicago that was mentioned at the end of the article) and an unruly child disturbed my dinner. 4 people can easily spend over 1000.00 there, depending on the wines chosen.

Parents do their children and themselves a disservice when they do not discipline and teach good manors and behavior. Why do so many parents think they deserve to put themselves above everyone else? It is wrong and in the long run their kids and the parents will pay for it.

Parents should not have the right to ruin anyone else's evening just like the middle age ladies laughing obnoxiously, or the hoards of teen being teens shouldn't get to either. I think when customers are not clued into what they should be doing the management should have the right and the backbone to ask them to settle down, or offer them a takeout box. I can sympathize with the ladies who wrote the note and wonder about all the details that were left out of the story. Usually there is a lot we don't know what really took place. I know personally since I very rarely eat in restaurants how disappointing it would be to not get to enjoy it.

I think its is sad that manners, consideration, and good behavior have largely disappeared.

I think this thread is highly impacted by the word "Screaming" in the the title. We've all suffered from uncontrolled screaming children. The description of the child, however, said that he wasn't screaming or crying, just "excited". Some people are sensitive to the high pitch of children's voices, especially when they're excited, so I have no doubt the note writers were disturbed. The mother was described as trying to hush him, thereby doing her job. Given the kind of restaurant it is, I don't see why a loud, excited baby is any worse than loud excited teenagers, or a loud hen party, or a big loud guy, or loud grandparents. The restaurant prides itself on being loud. Singling out a baby is discriminatory.

Edit: I crossed with Frogged. Same idea, different conclusion. :)

I commented only on locations. This business has restaurants in inland but not coastal California - several in communities known for its farmers and farm workers, another near an Air Force base, another in a very blue collar town. They have a location in Reno (which is a bit of a cow town anyway), but it's not downtown, it's 15 minutes out of town.

I'm not being critical, I just suggested that these locations have commonalities that suggest the have chosen to NOT target more affluent people as customers. I could be wrong, but they have nada in even the mid-level income regions of the SF Bay Area, greater LA, San Diego or Orange County. Were they ignorant of the demographics and sizes of the markets in these places? I doubt it.

Noisy conduct, whether from kids or adults, is rude to others, I don't know what else to say. I don't go to noisy restaurants. And well run restaurants know how to handle the din.

A restaurant isn't a sports bar, where I'd say noise is more welcome and more typically found.

'Rather than bending to the whims of the complainants, the restaurant manager sympathized with Leach; he comped the family's meal, and told the women "they could finish their dinner, but then had to leave quietly." A rep for Texas Roadhouse told the news station, "We are proud to be loud. If you want to hear clinking wine glasses and clinking forks, then this probably isn’t the place for you."'

whims?

comped the meal for the family whose child was disruptive?

informed the complainants that he'd let them finish their meal but that then they had to leave?

Yikes!

First, to Snidely regarding Texas Roadhouse locations -- there are two locations of which I am aware but are not shown on the TR web site. One is along I-80 in an area where there are many restaurants; and the other is in Placer County in a city which is considered to be upscale, where the residents are mainly high income.

Second, to everyone who has defended the 10-month-old baby as just being "excited." Please read this article, which includes some quotes from the baby's mother, including the following:

Katie Leach admits that her son's "new thing" is yelling.

"He will yell when I tell him no, when he's super excited and happy or just for no reason at all," Leach wrote on a Facebook post to KTVB-TV. "I'm doing my best to teach him indoor voice and to not yell back at me when telling him no etc, But he is only 10 (almost 11 months) and LEARNING."

Sylvia, the restaurant's reaction makes you question whether the baby really was disruptive, huh?

I don't understand the manager turning on the customers that were bothered by it. I wouldn't normally write a note either, unless maybe I had complained and got no where with it. Based on the manager's reaction maybe that's what happened. Whatever the case, the note could have been worded a little more tactfully but I think the restaurant got it wrong and should have intervened differently.

Screaming, crying babies comes with having kids. Leaving a restaurant before you're finished because you either can't or don't know how to quiet your child is one of those not so fun parts of being a parent. It's not ok to expect the people around you to not be upset when they're being disturbed by bad behavior in a public place.

The mother needed to be prevented from reproducing before raising another generation of trash, who will likely have the next generation of trash.

Screaming kids is a normal part of having children, making other people listen to them shows the parent was not raised properly. A little bit is fine, an extended screaming fit means you need to go outside.

sorry if I wasn't clear, pillog.

The restaurant's reaction made me wonder what's wrong with the manager.

We eat at a Texas Roadhouse fairly often in a suburb of Kansas City. Country western music is played at an audible level, but every 20 minutes or so it is turned up and the song "Cotton-eyed Joe" is played. ALL THE SERVERS move into the aisles and do a rehearsed dance to the song. They are loud and whoop and holler. So, when we go there, I expect the place to be loud.

That said, however, I do not enjoy other patrons' children being noisy or disruptive. A minute or two, sure. For an extended period, no. TAKE YOUR KID HOME. The rest of us want to visit with those at our table and eat our meal in peace, uninterrupted by other patrons.

I've been to Texas Roadhouse a number of times. The place is very, very loud. In fact one time when I was there, a family apologized to us for their loud kid - they had to take him out for a bit. We told him we hadn't even heard him. I think the women that left the note were out of line especially at Texas Roadhouse. If they were at a place that was known to be quiet, then they would have had a case. But definitely not at Texas Roadhouse. When it's someone's birthday, the whole place erupts into song, all the employees do a dance and they bring out a saddle for the birthday person to give a Texas Roadhouse yell. It is a loud party atmosphere. I can't imagine though bringing a baby. Not sure my grandson would like it - he's only 3 months though. My 2 year old granddaughter would love it

Management was not out of line. These women are not the patrons they are targeting.

What is a Texas Roadhouse yell? Not sure I see much difference between wait staff's whoops and hollers, adult singing, and a baby's occasional excited yells? Is it a case of #loudwhilebaby or was the child actually engaged in extended repeated screaming? There's a whole spectrum of disruptive behavior.

I do think there are different levels of appropriate noise depending on the establishment (think Chuck E Cheese, where they encourage the party kids to be louder(!) ). Apparently this is not just any family restaurant, but one that proclaims it is "Proud to be Loud." I expect in light of the company slogan, local managers might be hard pressed to ask patrons to be quiet?

In this instance, it would have been nice for the manager to re-seat the older ladies and comp their meal as well. Missed an opportunity there.

I haven't been to a Texas Roadhouse in probably 3 years, truthfully we can cook a better steak at home ;) (I'm sure most enthusiastic Texans would say they same)

The last time I remember being there was for a big family birthday. Us, my parents, my kids (the youngest was less than a year old) my in-laws and my husbands 100 year old grandma.

My kids were pretty well behaved, stayed in their seats coloring and being entertained by the multitude of adults in our party but grandma (she was suffering from dementia and going deaf) was so loud I felt the need to apologize to the tables around us for her behavior.

I could have taken my baby out of there in an instant if she had gotten loud, I've always done it before, but I certainly couldn't remove grandma!!

Interestingly, no one was upset about Grandma. Truth be told, I too would be far more tolerant of a senile adult than a screaming baby.

Both don't know what they are doing but in a babies case, I would expect the parents to remove the (easy to remove) child from the situation. You can't easily remove a full grown adult who doesn't understand why their actions are wrong or that they are being too loud.

I think the noise level there is a bit like a school cafeteria because people are TALKING to one another, which is great. I like to talk to my family when we are dining. A screaming child makes talking with one another impossible.I am appalled that the screaming child's family had their meals comped. guess I should avoid Texas Roadhouse.

I think the Road House management reprimanded the wrong party. If the child refused to stop creating a major disturbance, one of the parents should have taken him outside. Since the parents did not have enough upbringing to do this, the management should have asked them to remove the child for a short period.

However, I wonder why a 10 month old baby would put up such a fuss for a lengthy period. Usually, there is a cause like wet diapers, hungry, or fighting sleep. Another cause is bodily discomfort. Maybe the noise level was upsetting and frightening. In my opinion, the noise level in a Texas Road House can go above the recommended maximum exposure level. The last time we were in one, we did ask to have the speakers turned down a bit and they complied. After the staff had performed a number, the speakers came back on at an exceptionally loud level.

If the normal noise level in a Texas Roadhouse is as loud as seems to be indicated here as well as in the online stories about this incident, I have to question the intelligence of the parents who were willing to subject a baby to it and risk his eardrums.

Also, babies and young children have a tendency to shriek. I can tolerate loud. I cannot tolerate shrieking.

I'm back to asking why you would take a very young child to a restaurant. Stay home or get a sitter. Parents should expect to be invited to leave if a child of any age is disruptive.

Once at a Red Lobster I do remember asking to be moved to another part of the restaurant when a toddler kept screaming..mom kept telling the kid to be quiet but it kept on yelling. My grandson is autistic and my daughter would not put up with such behavior herself, she believes people have a right to enjoy their meal out..if our grandson even started to act up she, or our son in law, would take him out until he settled down then bring him back in..and this only happened a couple of times. If they're too young to understand...babies, then get a sitter as has been suggested.

None of us were there and have no idea of what really happened except for what we read. I have been to a Texas Roadhouse and believe me, one yelling child would not have made any difference in the noise level.

Whether it's a quiet restaurant or a loud one, parents should be aware that their kids are getting too loud, too obnoxious or too rowdy.

Period.

Take your kid out when he gets loud and obnoxious and don't act like an entitled a-hole victim when someone complains.

Either show awareness and PARENT your child when in a restaurant, or eat at home.

DH and I were at a local taco joint which is very family friendly--lots of little kids. The parents, ugh! Kids running around, standing on chairs and worst of all, this woman STANDS HER CHILD on a common seating counter WHERE PEOPLE EAT FOOD!

smdh

"I have been to a Texas Roadhouse and believe me, one yelling child would not have made any difference in the noise level."

There is a HUGE difference between loud and shrieking. Loud -- because a lot of people are talking and laughing at the same time -- can be tuned out if you are concentrating on your dining partner(s) and your own table conversation. Shrieking, on the other hand, is ear-piercing and annoying and cannot be tuned out.

Some restaurants seem loud even when the conversation level is fairly low, because of the acoustics of the place. Take The Cheesecake Factory as an example. There is very little fabric to absorb noise. The floor, walls, and (huge) columns are solid and reflect the sound back into the room which magnifies the sound. Still, that is completely different than the sound of a shrieking kid.

"None of you were there and have no idea of what really happened except for what you read."

That is true for about 99.999% of what we know of our world. Surely you are not suggesting that one must have actual experience in order to have an opinion about anything?

"I have been to a Texas Roadhouse and believe me, one yelling child would not have made any difference in the noise level."

You JUST made your case for a personal perception requirement, and you are now making your own judgment about what took place even though you were not there?

Someone who WAS there, the complainer, surely would not have made a complaint if "one yelling child would not have made any difference in the noise level." If every other child in the place was yelling, why would she leave a note just for this one?

Not just perception but also context.

Interesting to see the different viewpoints.

Sorry, I was not making my own judgement about what happened. I just stated what the noise level was when I was there.

Do some folks not know the difference between a kid's loud yelling (e.g., "Hey, Mom! Look at this! Mom! Mom! Mom!") and a child's high-pitched shrieking/squealing? Loud yelling is simply loud. Loud high-pitched shrieking/squealing is like (really loud) fingernails on a chalkboard. Huge difference. One is tolerable, the other is not.

If the kid in the restaurant in the article at issue were simply being loud, I don't think there would have been a problem. But when his own mother admits to trying multiple times to quiet him down, it seems logical to deduce that he was being more than simply loud.

"The mother needed to be prevented from reproducing before raising another generation of trash, who will likely have the next generation of trash"

REALLY? Hmmm, that's pretty harsh...maybe people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Let's keep in mind that each location is different. One location may not have the same noise levels of another. We've been a couple of times and the one in our area has never been so loud a shrieking, yelling or crying baby wouldn't have been disturbing.

My take is, yes 10mo babies like to test their vocal skills. Even if noisy things happen in restaurants, it's a different kind of noise to little ones testing their screeching capabilities (which can be astounding). It is not OK to allow children to screech in restaurants and other places where large groups of people are interacting with each other or for instance watching a movie or listening to a talk. Once the screeching starts, out they go until they are quiet again. _This_ is how you teach little ones about inside and outside voice, by physical demonstration, since at that age they don't have enough language skills to understand long winded explanations.

So if you _know_ your child is likely to screech, you don't take him/her to restaurants or other similar activities. If you want to go out, you get a babysitter.

Yes, once you get on the parenthood bus there are some destinations you just have to give up on or put off until a better time.

To me, the article lost most of its credibility when it starts out with a foolish oxymoron as "passive aggressive". From there it went downhill.

Kicking grandpa out because he can't hear is a silly analogy. Grandpa doesn't yell and scream - he can't hear. It's the others with Grandpa who might be louder but if they yell and scream, that's inappropriate too. You can get close to someone with poor hearing and speak up without bothering everyone around. And a loud talk is far different than a screaming brat. I've dealt with people who don't hear well, and that's a completely different situation.

If you want to win the war, you don't negotiate with terrorists and you don't negotiate with brats (which are actually another type of terrorist). And since when does "family-friendly" mean "dysfunctional and out of control welcome"? There are noises in certain businesses but that does NOT justify unacceptable behavior. I like a restaurant called Red Robin but I do not like the noise level there during busy times so I can only go there when it's slow. It echoes and just a high volume of noise when crowded, so much so, it gives me a headache. However at least that's appropriate ambient noise, and suggesting that screaming is acceptable because there is other noise is strange.

Giving a note instead of having a screaming confrontation was a far better idea to me. Far from immature - it was a good thing to do. Obviously this mother was not going to do anything about it so place the note and sit down and try to salvage the meal if you can. If more people would do that rather than being "sheeple", the mother might get the message. With only one table having the courage to speak, she's trying to market herself as a victim which she was not.

AFAIC the victims should not have to move to a different table, they should make the perpetrators move to another table. After enough moves, they might get the message. The manager was out of line to chastise the victims and order them to "leave quietly"... what a hypocrite! What happened to "proud to be loud"?

I've been to all too many places where parents ignore brats. They give up parenting and just ignore it since they didn't discipline the kids properly and figure they'll just wait for it to die down. The people around them shouldn't have to tolerate it. An occasional incident of a kid shrieking or something out of excitement is no big deal to me. Sometimes it's, for lack of a better word, even entertaining. But there's a difference that I shouldn't have to detail.

Never been to a Texas Road House and the company's position, I won't be going there. They won't shut down from the loss of my business and maybe we can get all of the disruptive people to go there instead of places we patronize. They have the loud crowd they want, and we can have a relaxed meal. "Win-win" is the cliché, I believe.

I cannot see Texas Roadhouse as one of those places that diners should get to complain about noise? Relaxation yes, noise, no. Still, a screaming child isn't appropriate any place.

That said, when I was teaching my son restaurant manners (socializing him), I would take him at odd times, e.g. 2PM on a Tuesday. No one eats then. I got lucky that he wasn't a screaming child. Or I didn't allow it? Whatever. I also never allowed my son to get up at a restaurant. That one, I really don't understand. Sit in the seat until the meal is done. And he did that from the time he could sit up. People don't try to teach kids these sorts of things, not deeply. They just sort of let "kids be kids", and that isn't right either. They need to be taught and taught early.

ETA: I have been bothered more by obnoxious adults than kids on occasion. They can be loud and rude by hitting my chair repeatedly when entering/leaving their seat. Should I leave them notes? ;)

When someone hits you or your chair or your table at a restaurant, blame the restaurant for squeezing too many 2-4 tops in for profit.

They make you sit practically on top of one another nowadays.

I blame the patron for not saying excuse me. I left that off. It's early (before coffee)!

I am reading this and one thing I wonder -- what if there are no further away places to re-seat a patron? (Maybe other people have caught the waitstaff's eye first? Maybe it is a small bistro and there's no safe place.)

I can deal with an infant, if it stops sometime -- what I can't deal with are the 2-5 year olds who along with screaming, throwing tantrums, and get down and run around the restaurant pestering as many people as they can.

I think a note is in most cases a bad idea -- but a word to the waitstaff is in order - and they can always ask the disruptive patrons to leave, if only briefly enough to calm the child down, outdoors.

While I understand as a child I never made a fuss in restaurants, I did make a fuss at church. Mom promptly took me out until I settled down.

Age-dependent, you can provide your kid with paper and crayons. My parents told me that at age 2 or 3, I was taken to a fine NYC restaurant where they were to meet some relatives driving up north from I-95. The relatives were caught in severe traffic and arrived at the restaurant at least two hours late. Because I was given pencils and paper, and apparently a little bread, I wasn't remotely disruptive, even though we were sitting there for hours. (My parents were prepared to yank me out of there if they needed to.) [Ah, this was in the days when there were roadside phones, and the relatives could call the restaurant...]

I took it the same way Morz8 did. Just a laughing/squealing baby. Not screaming and crying. Not fussing. Not whining. Not running around or climbing tables or hanging over the back of other diners chairs.

I am guilty of making babys/small children laugh in restaurants. Or if a baby is fussing, doing a bit of distraction (sometimes a stranger saying something surprises the baby enough to stop fussing for a while and get shy LOL. good trick ;).

However. I do find that crying screaming kids do get on my nerves, more since my back surgery and my ears are funny. Once on a plane a baby screamed and fussed for TWO HOURS. Finally I got up and said "GIVE ME THAT BABY!". Within five minutes, asleep and handed back. It is a gift that sometimes is a blessing, or a curse when you can't keep kids awake then they are up all night for the parents - bwa ha haaa!

Dances

' this woman STANDS HER CHILD on a common seating counter WHERE PEOPLE EAT FOOD!'

been there! It happened at a salad bar.

sylviatexas1 - Wow, that takes the cake and the garbanzo beans!

I have been to many TRs over the years. They are not screaming hooting and hollaring loud for the most part only when the servers perform and then it quiets down after not silent by any means but more the loud hum of people having conversations. It has that busy bee hum sound not sure I am explaining right but hopefully you get what I am saying.

I'm sorry but if I got seated near someone who had a shrieking, yelling excited baby next to me who was doing that through my whole meal I'd be upset too. I'd be upset because when I was a mother of a young child I'd never let my son do that in a public place that might disturb other people. I tried to be considerate of everyone around me, a few squeaks and squeals ok I get it but to continue to do that through the meal, yeah no. If my son was doing that after the first few minutes if I couldn't get it under control out we'd go end of story. Didn't matter where I was if it was a public place you show manners and respect for those around you. What maybe tolerable to me may not be to others around me and I try to be aware of that.

I can fully understand why those people got upset. Now a days people seem to have no respect for others, they believe they should be able to do as they please and act how they please and they don't care what others think and now a days it is stories like this that is encouraging this type of me, me behavior and lack of manors because the person not thinking about those around them got rewarded with a free meal because they disturbed another persons dinner SMH.

Aprile, I couldn't figure out which people were "doing as they please and having no respect" in your last paragraph. I kept going between the rude kid family and rude note group. It could go both ways. Just a thought

The people with the shrieking child were the offenders, "doing as they pleased & having no respect" & the manager rewarded them with a free meal & scolded the complainant & told them to leave "quietly". (????)

Given the fact that it's *never* a good idea to confront or challenge total strangers, especially people you already know to be rude & inconsiderate, & the fact that the person leaving the note was female & therefore not a likely candidate for a physical confrontation, I think she did the only thing she could do.

The family's behavior was inexcusably anti-social, but the manager's behavior was jaw-droppingly insulting, wrong-headed, unfair, unreasonable, & counter-productive

So everyone was rude all the way around! Yep.

The complaining women should have talked to the manager. not left a nasty note.

Kris_zone6, from what I recall reading, the complaining women did speak to the manager but he refused to do anything. That's why they gave the mom a note.

The story states that the mother talked to the manager, not the two complaining women. Then the manager talked to the complainers.

Good gracious. Why is it that parents nowadays feel they are entitled to do whatever they please? Take a 10 month old to a restaurant where it will shriek and squirm and disturb other people. .....babies are babies right? And EVERYONE in the world thinks YOUR baby is the cutest thing in the world amd their screeching is like a catchy little jingle. Or they should. Right? Whip out a boob to feed an infant in public making no effort to show any modesty or consideration for other people......well babies get hungry and it's easier to feed them wherever you are rather than plan errands around feeding schedules right?? And dont give me that argument about how its natural and thats what breasts are for...I agree on a biological level...that's what they are for...but really..what happened to modesty? My mother breast fed all 6 of her children..and she will tell you that if you have a feeding schedule for the baby, it is not only possible but easy to avoid public displays.(side note: before I get attacked for this, let me clear the air now...I know this is a hot button topic...the sight of a woman breastfeeding her baby in public does NOT in any way make ME PERSONALLY uncomfortable. I would rather you whip it out and feed the kid than hear it screech. I know motherhood is hard. I know sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do...kind of like peeing behind a tree when the next bathroom is 50 miles away. I am personally more disgusted with the way women and girls are wearing less and less clothing...as if they were advertising the goods to attract a buyer.but I can see how it would make others uncomfortable,and I think some women just don't care. I think that they have the attitude of "I can do whatever I want I'm a mommy, and that's what grates my nerves)

Change the babies diaper on top of a table or a booth seat in a restaurant right (true story. ...last time I ever ate at that establishment ).....well taking them to a bathroom or even to the car is to much trouble right????

Let their kids run loose up and down the aisles of the grocery store.....kids are kids right????? I could go on and on and on. Parents.......here's a tip....not everyone thinks as highly of your child as you do...especially when they act like rabid ferrets in public while you post pictures of their "adorable mischief" online. This "I am parent....you should change your desire for a quiet meal or a peaceful shopping trip to accommodate my fear of my kids not liking me for making them act civilized when around other humans" attitude that seems to have infected the world is enough to make ME scream like a rabid ferret!

I know I sound like an old fuddy duddy....but just today some little brat slammed into me with a shopping cart, an empty shopping cart. It hurt like hell. Brat had a sheepish grin which i did not in any way find adorable as his mother likely did. Mom looks at me and says "didn't you hear him coming? He was running pretty fast." The sad part was I wasn't even surprised. I am 30 years old and the youngest of 6. My parents would NEVER have allowed the behavior that children get away with in public nowadays. What in the world happened to teaching your kids that they are NOT the center of the frickin universe and that there are places and times when you have to sit down and hush.....or else.

But I feel like I have gotten off topic. I guess my bottom line on the subject at hand is that a 10 month old is a handful...and too young to know what appropriate behavior is. Mom and dad are not. Take the kid outside and correct the behavior if they are old enough to understand. Or get a sitter if they are not. How many 10 month olds will sit quietly for the entire length of an average meal? Are you really shocked to learn that not everyone goes into fits of delight when they pay good money for a meal out with someone that's they can't even have a conversation with because your (I'm sure ADORABLE) child is loud and distracting?) The manager in this case really dropped the ball. Why would you reward a customer for disturbing another? Why not offer to move one party or the other to a different part of the restaurant? If I had to deal with this...I would move one of the parties and comp both meals. One for the inconvenience of being seated next to a table with a noisy toddler that ruined their experience at our business and the other just to show that they and their kids (and money) are welcome.

not rude to ask a restaurant manager to handle a screaming problem, & not rude to take some other action if the manager doesn't handle it.

It's unreasonable to expect diners to sit there & endure screaming in a restaurant.

The complaining women should have talked to the manager. not left a nasty note.

YES!

The thing is you go to certain restaurants you will get kids screaming and yelling. My friend and I went to DQ and this mother and her children were up above us on another level and the little one was really banging his feet on the seats and I could see his smirking, he was loving this and then the mother looked down at us and she left which I was happy about. It is a kids place but at the same time shouldn't go on forever.

I have to say that many do not care and let their kids go at it no matter where it is and a little bit you expect but come one screaming for long time and running around and pestering people I have seen and its not good. We pay for our food and deserve a certain respect.

How would they like it if we adults started yelling and fighting and screaming and shouting and going at tables, they wouldn't so why can kids?

kathy

Bingo, kathy. Bingo.

Save for Chucky Cheese and its ilk, people expect a certain amount of decorum from EVERYONE, including and especially parents with children.

It is a reasonable expectation.

Just this weekend, DH and I were on a long weekend vacation, and we decided to take advantage of the strong Fall morning sun and eat al fresco at a casual restaurant that has outdoor and indoor seating.

A family was sitting inside at a four top, including a very cute toe-headed boy that looked to be 2-3 years old. He was sitting next to the huge window that looks out on the patio where we were seated. Well, sitting he was not, which is a huge peeve of mine.

The boy was standing on his chair, father/parent totally ignoring as if it's no big deal. The boy was hanging onto the cafe curtain rod and smiling at us, just wanting attention and affirmation of his cuteness.

He got NONE from me, because I didn't want to reinforce his very poor behavior.

Getting no love from me, he then started banging on the window. BANG BANG BANG!! At that point, I looked past the very cute kid, right at (I assume) his father.

Total. Deadpan. Gaze.

That finally got the notion in his head to get his kid to sit the "eff" down, and put his ass on the seat where it belongs.

The boy sat to eat, but unfortunately, his uncaring, uncouth and idiot parent let him resume his inappropriate behavior again.

Eh, I just stopped looking his way so I could enjoy my breakfast.

Parents are the problem these days.

That table deserved a free meal as much as the ones in the headlines, which is to say, NOT.

IMO, those are not "parents". Actual parents take those opportunities to teach their children how to behave, which is part of the job of being a parent.

Exactly, tibbrix, it's a teachable occasion and I'd bet dollars to donuts that cute toe-headed toddler would have behaved like a good boy if his Dad had a clue.