As any parent knows, eating out in a restaurant with children can be a bit of a dicey game. Sometimes your kids are angels, and other times you just want to crawl under the table ... if it wasn't such a horrific mess from all the food they'd thrown down there. But what if your bill depended on how well-behaved your children were?
A Reddit user recently posted a picture of a receipt from an Italian restaurant in Washington named Sogno Di Vino with a title "If only all restaurants did this for people with kids ..." On it there was a $4 discount for "well-behaved kids". A sweet gesture, and I bet those parents were pretty proud.
But the whole thing makes me kind of nervous.
Can you imagine if you were charged more for those times when your children aren't quite so good (as plenty of commenters suggested should be standard)? Or if the next time you didn't get a discount?
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Eating out with children is already filled with plenty of pressure for parents. Every raised voice, every dropped spoon can make a mom feel like all eyes in the joint are searing into her. And yes, sometimes children are out of control and should be removed from a restaurant. No one deserves for their meal to be interrupted by kids gone wild, but there also needs to be a certain amount of tolerance for families dining out without parents feeling like they're being judged even more. Most children just aren't going to be seen and not heard, and as long as mom and dad are making sure they're not heard too loudly, they deserve a little bit of a break. Having a random waitress decide what "well-behaved" is could be all sorts of problematic. I also can't imagine that restaurants really want to get into a battle over the bill with "those" parents who always deny their precious little ones ever do anything wrong.
Would it be nice to be rewarded when the planets align and you all make it through dinner delightfully? Absolutely. But I'm not sure it's worth the price you'd pay for the days when your kids act more ... like kids.
Would you welcome a policy in which your restaurant bill was adjusted according to your children's behavior?
Image via Reddit
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Comments 68
I would imagine it is in place to encourage parents to PARENT and at least ATTEMPT to teach their children how to behave in public.
I love it. Encouraged to seek out this restaurant now...
And SDC - No. SOME children are well behaved in public. Other children (most children) are absolute nightmares because they have lazy, complacent parents who feel it's the rest of the world's problem to deal with their kids.
I was in Applebees on Black Friday with my husband, my then-4 year old and my 3 year old. The kids in the booth behind (probably 8-10 years old) were AWFUL. Their parents were in the booth across from them and were checked out for the whole meal. At one point, my 3 year old asked me if I could tell the kids to stop kicking the chairs and jumping up and down. MY 3 YEAR OLD.
God, would I have loved Applebees to have this discount that day.
Love this idea! If your kids don't behave...LEAVE! Why should I pay over $100 for my family to go out (seldom) and have to put up with you yelling at your screaming, food throwing brat? That said, our favorite restaurant has a note on the menu...if you cannot control your children, do not patronize our restaurant. They do not hesitate to ask people to leave. We always have a nice meal there!