Children in restaurants

[Thumpalumpacus]

Starting at about four or five, I made it a habit to take my son to sit-down restaurants, to train him how to behave in that sort of setting, and never had a problem with his public behavior. I learnt from my own dad The Look -- narrowed eyes, tight lips, like I'm taking aim. If my son started acting up, he'd get The Look, and he knew that that meant he'd better straighten up and fly right or once we got home he was going to be in deep kimche. But I never had to use that often.

I give a lot of latitude to children; however, I have zero tolerance for irresponsible parents. Part of a parent's responsibility is to ensure their spawn don't inconvenience the rest of society. When I was a child my mother would frequently get compliments at restaurants for our behavior, which always seemed odd since we considered our behavior normal and not worthy of praise.

When I was five and my brother a year younger, we thought it was a grand idea to start throwing french fries at one another. Without saying a word, Mom collected our meals and put them in the trash. We were then forced to watch her eat. She says she never again had to say a single word to us about our behavior at restaurants.

This post is so full of goodness it's hard to know where to start ... but what a great mom.