On 7/26/2015 4:58 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
> I caught a small portion of a radio show about kids in restaurants. One
> women, who seemed to have some expertise on manners and training kids,
> suggest that if the place does not have high chairs..... maybe it's a
> place you should not be taking small children.
>
>

Many years ago, I was on family vacation with my parents, aunt and
uncle, younger brother and sister. It was a "family-style" restaurant
(nothing fancy), but the booths were not large enough to hold all of us.
So, my parents shared a booth with my aunt and uncle, and they had the
three of us (siblings) share a booth across the room. We got
hamburgers, and my father told us we could order hot fudge sundaes. We
enjoyed the food and sat there talking and enjoying ourselves.
Afterward, my father was very proud and told us that someone had stopped
by their booth to tell them "what nice children they had." I did not
understand it at the time because all we did was eat and talk. I was 12
years old at the time and my brother and sister were younger. Years
later, I understood why those people thought we were being so nice...the
fact that we were only eating and talking and enjoying ourselves was
exactly what they appreciated. I think people today would not find it
unpleasant to have children seated in a restaurant if parents would only
teach them to act as we did that day--something that was perfectly
natural to us.

MaryL