Two articles on "brats in public"

[conuly]

Those are real quotes, not the scare kind :)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14136994/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14348175/

I'll post my opinion later, because it's more fun to read what other people say.

Comments

[failstoexist.livejournal.com]

I see lots and lots of kids every day. And I'm in a place where kids are expected to be kids-they're fairly free. they're allowed to touch nearly everything, play, get messy, and even be loud. But the shrieking...it hurts my ears. I absolutely hate parents who let their kids shriek. even screaming/yelling doesn't matter so much-but that high pitched noise is terrible. I wish parents would stop their kids from doing that.

it's in other situations that I think kids need a bit of work. When my cousin is out at a restaurant, she may speak quietly or at least in a normal voice, color, play with stickers, and sit on her knees. She may not scream or yell, turn around to bother other diners, stand up on the seat, or crawl around under the table. If she does those things, we will tell her to stop, and if she does not stop, she will be taken outside to be spoken to...if she can't stop after that, we're going home.

But I would not bring her to a place that I didn't think was appropriate for her. we go out for pizza, but not to a 5 star restaurant. I would *never* take her on a commuter train, because people(including me) expect a certain level of quiet. I would take her on a subway, though, if we were in the city. I would not take her to a movie at this age, I would not take her anywhere that she couldn't behave-and I give her warnings about what will be expected of her. So it upsets me when I go out to have a grownup good time, and I have to deal with kids who don't know how to behave.

I'm the one who compliments people on their kids' behaviour when we're out. I love kids, and if they behave well(even if they do lean over to bug me, if i tell the parents it's OK, i don't mind) then I'm cool with them being there. But if they're running all over the restaurant or shrieking, I think they should be removed from the situation.