How to deal with this/the lost art of "sitting nicely"

SupergaryMonk

Why is it that children cannot sit nicely any more?

Yesterday, I was at my local pub, and there were many families there, mainly sitting outside in the sun, which I find totally acceptable. Get them high on fizzy pop and let them run free in the garden.

Unfortunately, a few had managed to sneak inside, into the drinking area , and had taken control of a number of tables, which they had pushed together, forcing me to stand at the bar, and thus having to chat to Norman (the landlord) wife, whose sole topic of conversation involves her many gruesome ailments.

In this group, there were a number of children. One child was running up to people, making a sort of "honk honk" noise, then clapping madly as if some sort of achievement had been reached. He would then run to another area of the pub and repeat the process to somebody else. His parents thought this was hilarious, and also seemed to assume that everybody else would find the childs behaviour as beguiling as they obviously did. The child must have been about 2 years old, and obviously had a huge lack of discipline.

How would you have dealt with this situation?

Andypandyboy

I would have gone to my club, where there is a much better class of rif raff!!;)

Piggywiggy

If you just ignore them they !!!!!! off.

peachyprice

SupergaryMonk wrote: »

Why is it that children in my local pub cannot sit nicely any more?

There, corrected that for you. Not all parents/children are equal.

dandelionclock30

I'd have just gone somewhere elce quieter, little kids do run about, make silly noises, shout etc. I wouldnt have gone to a place packed with families in the first place if I was intolerant of kids. You might as well have gone to a wacky warehouse.
Next you will go swimming and complain that the water was wet.

SupergaryMonk

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

I'd have just gone somewhere elce quieter, little kids do run about, make silly noises, shout etc. I wouldnt have gone to a place packed with families in the first place if I was intolerant of kids.

It usually is a normal adult pub, but the sun seems to bring them out, and as we have so little sun, I tend to forget that quite quickly. Also, its a pub not a bouncy castle, the parents should teach them some pub etiquette . I long for the days when it was normal to leave them in the car with pop and crisps.

Valli

Check the terms of the pub's licence - it might be that children are only supposed to be in the bar if they are eating - and if the licence terms are being broken a gentle reminder to the licensee might be in order!

Person_one

Tod123? Is that you?

Carl31

I would have gone to the car, retreived my slipper that i keep soley for the spanking of unruly children, returned and one by one had them over my knee, leaving them with red bum cheeks as a reminder of the insolent behaviour.

I would have then returned to the bar for a pint of mild, and tuned in the wireless, and twiddled my moustache

barbiedoll

I've got a rather efficient, "evil mum" stare which not only worked with my kid, but also appears to work with other people's [STRIKE]brats[/STRIKE] little darlings.

I use it a lot in my local supermarket where it comes in handy when encountering those parents who seem to think that their child is perfectly entitled to play with my food on the conveyor belt. One stare from me and they're frozen in fear, their little sticky hands just hovering over my bananas, which I dare them to touch.......

It works quite well on the "screamers" too, the ones who think that shrieking at the top of their voices is hilarious, whilst their parents just stand and watch, inexplicably proudly. My son always tells me to "give them one of your evil looks".....it does usually shut them up.

I'm not proud of myself but it would be a shame to waste my talent!

BarryBlue

SupergaryMonk wrote: »

It usually is a normal adult pub, but the sun seems to bring them out, and as we have so little sun, I tend to forget that quite quickly. Also, its a pub not a bouncy castle, the parents should teach them some pub etiquette . I long for the days when it was normal to leave them in the car with pop and crisps.

Oh, how I agree with this. People are welcome to bring their kids to the pub to sit in the garden or family area, particularly if they are eating. But I believe every pub should have a no-kids area. Pubs are primarily for drinking and that is not an activity for children.

Even when children do accompany their parents to a pub, they should be able to conduct themselves in a civilised manner and be able to sit at the table and keep themselves occupied. It is NOT acceptable for the little sods to run around the place annoying other diners/drinkers and screaming or crying all the time. It is up to the parents to keep them in check and up to the landlord to tell unruly ones to leave.

Wetherspoons have a sensible child policy regarding behaviour and a cut-off time for their presence. Shame they are not always keen to enforce it.