another bit of unsolicited advice from your favorite unsolicited advice person

[threeplusfire]

If you want to dine at a white table cloth, highly starred, Zagat featured, well reviewed and expensive restaurant in a major city, please do not be surprised if the staff asks you to turn down the volume on your 5 year old's portable DVD player.

If you can afford to buy your 5 year old a portable DVD player to distract the child while you dine in fancy restaurants you can afford a damn babysitter for two hours. Please support our nation's underemployed and unemployed youth by not buying portable DVD players and instead hiring babysitters. Not only will it help our economy, it will prevent the other patrons of this very expensive restaurant from murdering you and prevent waiters from putting unsanitary things in your food.

Comments

[rm.livejournal.com]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I seriously just don't even know! I can't believe someone had the unmitigated gall and lack of sense to complain that the manager asked her to turn down the DVD player! (Oh restaurant reviews, always pleasant part of my shift.)

[daysprings.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough I think I used to cut parents a lot more slack before I BECAME a parent and realized, yeah, it is hard, and no, you cannot ALWAYS make your kid behave, but you can surely do a better job than a lot of other parents who don't even try. I judge way more freely now that I've had to discipline and sacrifice fun evenings for my own child. Come on, parents, get it together.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Now you get to be an Expert, since you have actual experience. :D

I can understand it is hard to get small children to be quiet or behave at times. I'm not so sure that the DVD player as a pacifier is really the greatest idea though.

[brienze.livejournal.com]

My SIL got an iPhone so she could play videos for her kid while they have to wait at doctor's offices, etc. Kid picked up Pocket Legends and played it, at 3 yrs old. Virtual joystick, attacking zombies, the whole nine yards. I was amazed. So at least he's learning valuable (ahem) life skills along with being pacified.

But yes. If you can afford that dinner, you can afford a babysitter. And the kid would probably get more out of having Kraft mac n cheese at home.

[kythryne.livejournal.com]

I saw a number of women entertaining their wee ones with an iPhone in the waiting room at my IVF clinic, and I will undoubtedly do the same myself - I'm carrying it anyway, it clearly fascinates them and keeps them quiet... it just makes sense to me. (Although I will insist on headphones if they want noise.) But yeah, do not take kids to nice restaurants until they are capable of behaving appropriately.

[lawnrrd]

+1

[miep.livejournal.com]

my parents used to tell me that I couldn't come out to dinner with them unless I was 30 years old. I declared that I was, and at 4 1/2, happily ordered myself a shirley temple, a petit filet, and a baked potato.

I was a bit of a ham. ;)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Hahah! That's awesome.

I really loved the rare occasions that we ate out when I was a kid, because I got to pretend to be an adult.

[cjwriter.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of our anniversary lunch that was colored heavily by the "tweens" with their parents behind us who complained about everything. I knew it was gonna be bad when the boy walked in with a loud ipod.