{"id":711,"date":"2013-01-09T14:24:45","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T19:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayliang.us\/?p=711"},"modified":"2013-01-09T14:24:45","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T19:24:45","slug":"mays-rules-for-ragamuffins-in-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/?p=711","title":{"rendered":"May’s Rules for Ragamuffins in Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Sietsema, the food critic for the Washington Post<\/span>, has a weekly online chat about various restaurant and food-related issues.\u00a0 Every so often, there are chatters who complain about parents who bring children into restaurants.\u00a0 So I have decided to write May\u2019s Rules for Ragamuffins in Restaurants in response.\u00a0 (This is mostly a venting session because I believe parents should be able to bring kids to restaurants but then said parents have a certain set of responsibilities when they do so.)<\/p>\n

We have a 14 and an 11 year old, whom we have taken regularly for years to restaurants of all sorts (from fast food to the Inn at Little Washington). \u00a0But we started early and with a few iron-clad rules starting when they were babies. So, the following are May\u2019s Rules for Ragamuffins in Restaurants:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Always bring snacks for younger kids – younger kids don’t yet understand and have difficulty coping with the ebb-and-flow of restaurant ordering. \u00a0Yes, cheerios or goldfish may ruin a meal, but it’s much better than a hungry, and therefore, cranky, child.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Always bring entertainment, whether books or (quiet) toys or iPhones (set on vibrate). \u00a0Starting at around 9 or 10 years of age, children should be expected to be polite and attentive participants in the dinner conversation.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Start out with small, ethnic restaurants that are generally more child friendly. \u00a0We particularly like Chinese and Central American restaurants.\u00a0 Tip generously for the mess your child will inevitably make.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The second your child gets even a little fussy (note: \u00a0this is well before the crying at full volume stage), take your child out of the restaurant. \u00a0Eating in turn isn’t as much fun as eating together, but it’s the price you pay for being a parent. \u00a0Not to mention it’s the considerate thing to do for the other guests in the restaurant.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eat at off peak times so as to minimize disruption to the restaurant’s other guests.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Expect and demand good behavior in restaurants.\u00a0 If you, as parents don\u2019t do so, why would you expect your children to provide it?<\/p>\n

My children aren’t perfect by any means, but we regularly receive compliments on their behavior at restaurants by waitstaff and other diners. \u00a0And they love good food!<\/p>\n

[Rant over]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Sietsema, the food critic for the Washington Post, has a weekly online chat about various restaurant and food-related issues.\u00a0 Every so often, there are chatters who complain about parents who bring children into restaurants.\u00a0 So I have decided to write May\u2019s Rules for Ragamuffins in Restaurants in response.\u00a0 (This is mostly a venting session […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,25],"tags":[327,331],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-restaurants","tag-family","tag-restaurants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p23QXm-bt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions\/713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayliang.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}