Maine restaurant owner yells at child who was having a fit

I can't stand screaming kids when I'm out to dinner. When I go out to eat, it's to enjoy myself with family/friends. Screaming kids and cowardly, clueless parents are not what I want to deal with. I've had words (and near physical altercations) in the past with parents who ignore their little monsters as they scream and/or run about the restaurant. My daughter was never allowed to act poorly; I expect the same consideration from others.

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GrayTide said:

Like^^^

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Bodhisattva said:

I can't stand screaming kids when I'm out to dinner. When I go out to eat, it's to enjoy myself with family/friends. Screaming kids and cowardly, clueless parents are not what I want to deal with. I've had words (and near physical altercations) in the past with parents who ignore their little monsters as they scream and/or run about the restaurant. My daughter was never allowed to act poorly; I expect the same consideration from others.

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It probably only happened once maybe twice, but my wife while grocery shopping(with 3 young ones) would come home after I was home from work empty handed, no groceries. One of our three chose to make too much noise or disobey in some way and my wife would gather them up, push a full cart aside, load the kids and come straight home. They were instant cherubs.

From reading the article, my understanding is that the almost two year old child was screaming on and on, annoying the staff and other guests. After attempts were made by the staff to ask the family to keep the child quiet or leave, the parents did nothing, so the frustrated owner yelled at the kid.

If that sequence is correct, I am 100% on the owner's side. I have kids that often had trouble being quiet in public, but they received appropriate discipline until they learned how to behave. By not stopping the child's outbursts, the parents here were complicit in ruining the meals of other guests. I view it in the same way as if the mother herself was screaming because parents are responsible for their childrens' behavior.

Those parents probably let the child do that at home too. More and more, children are not being told how to act in public. Heaven help society.

This is where everyone needs to remember that whining on social media (or attacking or venting or whatever) is a two-way street. It seems to me the restaurant owner is willing to suffer or reap the consequences financially and the mother of the kid is expressing her First Amendment right.

Ain't 'Merica beautiful?

(Incidentally, this is what ought to happen with the gay wedding cake rather than "I'm gonna sue and force you to make me one").

but how does any of that make screaming at the 2 year old ok? what exactly did that accomplish? looks like a complete idiot to me.

selmaborntidefan said:

This is where everyone needs to remember that whining on social media (or attacking or venting or whatever) is a two-way street. It seems to me the restaurant owner is willing to suffer or reap the consequences financially and the mother of the kid is expressing her First Amendment right.

Ain't 'Merica beautiful?

(Incidentally, this is what ought to happen with the gay wedding cake rather than "I'm gonna sue and force you to make me one").

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Since there's no social justice movement to help get mom's of crying babies a right to let their babies cry in a restaurant, the mom has no chance unlike the gay wedding cake story.

RTR91 said:

Since there's no social justice movement to help get mom's of crying babies a right to let their babies cry in a restaurant, the mom has no chance unlike the gay wedding cake story.

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You're right about that, but if it were left up to the free market to determine then - as was proven both in the cases of Chick-fil-A and the Indiana pizza place - we know pretty much how it would turn out. If the Maine business owner is willing to reap the consequences of yelling at someone's kid then I think that's just the way it should be. Same with the Mom complaining. If the Mom wants to legally protest then more power to her, let her do it.

To be blunt, I go to a restaurant hoping for some semblance of peace and quiet (which is why I so rarely go to the Waffle House, which is NEVER quiet). I've had more than one patient who came in for a blood draw where it was obvious the kids did a good job raising the parent, too.

And no, that last sentence is NOT wrongly worded.

RTR91 said:

Since there's no social justice movement to help get mom's of crying babies a right to let their babies cry in a restaurant, the mom has no chance unlike the gay wedding cake story.

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I can only imagine the result if the mom had been openly breast feeding (a baby, not a 2-year old).

gamersfuel said:

but how does any of that make screaming at the 2 year old ok? what exactly did that accomplish? looks like a complete idiot to me.

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Because that's what the parents should have done. Maybe not screamed but whatever discipline or behavioral correction action they choose. They did nothing and left it up to somebody else. It's not the kids fault at all, it's all on the parents. It's like if there is a dog who is unleashed running around like an idiot. It's not the dogs fault, it's the owners..


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gamersfuel said:

but how does any of that make screaming at the 2 year old ok? what exactly did that accomplish? looks like a complete idiot to me.

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Screaming at a two year old is certainly not a palatable thought, but the parents were exhibiting unreasonable public behavior. IMO, yelling at the parents would be a lot more likely to cause an argument in the restaurant.

Calling law enforcement is an option I suppose, but then you further prolong the screaming and continue to lose business while waiting for their arrival. It probably would have been the next step, though.

The owner got the desired result in a non-violent manner. I say kudos to him/her.

selmaborntidefan said:

You're right about that, but if it were left up to the free market to determine then - as was proven both in the cases of Chick-fil-A and the Indiana pizza place - we know pretty much how it would turn out. If the Maine business owner is willing to reap the consequences of yelling at someone's kid then I think that's just the way it should be. Same with the Mom complaining. If the Mom wants to legally protest then more power to her, let her do it.

To be blunt, I go to a restaurant hoping for some semblance of peace and quiet (which is why I so rarely go to the Waffle House, which is NEVER quiet). I've had more than one patient who came in for a blood draw where it was obvious the kids did a good job raising the parent, too.

And no, that last sentence is NOT wrongly worded.

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And judging by DBF's comment in the first post, that very well could happen:

If I'm ever in Maine, I'm going to have to swing by Marcy's and shake her hand.

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Will be interesting to see the forthcoming outpouring of support by patrons....

Bazza said:

And judging by DBF's comment in the first post, that very well could happen:



Will be interesting to see the forthcoming outpouring of support by patrons....

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Yep and that was sort of my point.

I think the parents were rude for ignoring their crying child in another's place. The owner was a jerk for yelling at the kid. The kid was the only innocent party directly involved in this. She was treated badly by her parents and then by the owner, whose anger should have been directed at the parents.

I think the diner owner was within her rights to do whatever was necessary to shut the kid up. It was plain the parents weren't going to do anything.

As a sidebar, does everyone who goes on Facebook find it necessary to use such foul language in their posts? I find that type of language on social media to be disgusting and irresponsible. To me it shows both a low education and a lacking vocabulary.

Bama Reb said:

I find that type of language on social media to be disgusting and irresponsible. To me it shows both a low education and a lacking vocabulary.

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Could not agree with you more! Can't tell you the number of times I've talked to my kids about how language like that shows just your intelligence.