On 7/27/2015 9:14 AM, graham wrote:
> On 26/07/2015 10:40 PM, MaryL wrote:
>> 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
>>
> I may have told this here before but about 3 years ago, I was dining
> with a friend in the hotel "family restaurant" attached to Calgary
> airport. At the next table was a family of 4, the kids of elementary
> school age. They were quiet and perfectly behaved.
> The father called the waiter for the bill only to be told that another
> diner had been so impressed by the children's behaviour, he had paid for
> their meal. The father was dumbstruck.
> Graham
>
The father was probably thinking, I should have ordered the steak!

Jill