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Lunch At Wendy's

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Today my mom treated me to lunch at Wendy’s. While eating there, there was a mother with her two kids ( around 7 years old) and I’m assuming the kid’s grandmother. The 2 adults were sitting there deep in conversation while the 2 kids were playing with their happy meal toy. The 2 boys were running around the place rolling their toy across the tables and taking the salt and pepper shakers and making towers out of them. Then they were rolling them along the floor. I’m sitting there watching this and the mother wasn’t saying a word. I’m thinking to myself if these were my boys I would have told them to stop but since they weren’t I continued eating.

Then a group of women came in with their teenage daughters. One of the women turned to the mother and asked are they your kids ? The kids at this point were still playing around with the salt and pepper shakers. The mother said yes and the woman then rolled her eyes at the mother. The mother said “mind your own business”. I’m thinking I now have some entertainment as my mom and I finish our lunch. At this point the woman starts saying “I don’t think I can eat here” blah, blah, blah. They’re rolling the shakers along the floor and people are then going to use the salt and pepper and put it on their food. It’s disgusting!!! Meanwhile the mother is still just sitting there and not telling the boys to stop.

As we were getting ready to go, my mom had to walk over to the woman who was complaining and tell her what they were doing before she came in. I said “mom let’s go!!!.

So my question is this: would you have said anything to the mother of the 2 boys or just ignore what they were doing ?

After I posted this I thought of another question: If they were your kids would you have done/said anything to them ?

Updated 04-10-2009 at 03:44 PM by pussnboots

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  1. motherhubbard's Avatar
    I helped a new mother get her baby in her sling today. She looked like it was her first time to use one and it really helps to have someone show you. I doubt I would have said anything. I may have said something about the dangers of allowing children to play with salt. Just a little bit of salt can kill a kid. A lot of people don't know. It's hard for me to get on to other kids. I'm really having to work to overcome that in the schools.
  2. BienvenuJDC's Avatar
    Since they were not my salt shakers, I don't think that I would have said anything to the mother. I would have talked to the restaurant manager concerning the cleanliness of the eating area. He/she then in turn could have taken care of the problem. If the correct words and tone would be used, one could imply the importance to addressing this issue to the manager. It's not an issue that I am offended by the lack of discipline of these boys, but an issue that the health department could be concerned about. Again, I stress the manner in which one addresses the manager. There should not be a threat issued that could be construed as 'I'm going to report this to the health department!', but the manner should be that of enlightenment that if the health department would happen to be here the restaurant would not fair to well. Then one could also add that the general perspective of the rest of the customers might also be influenced by setting a standard of cleanliness and peaceful atmosphere.
  3. mtpspur's Avatar
    My kids would NOT have been fooling around as I kept them on a short choke collar. I would have ignored the other family. To me it's up to the restaurant people to police their facility.
  4. Virgil's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Mom-H
    Just a little bit of salt can kill a kid. A lot of people don't know.
    Really? I don't know. What happens?
  5. kilted exile's Avatar
    a tablespoon of salt eaten at once can affect the mineral conent of cells enough to kill an adult. Salt in moderation is fine just not too much
  6. Virgil's Avatar
    Thanks Kilt.
  7. motherhubbard's Avatar
    Ok Virgil, the recommended upper daily limit of salt for a 1-3 year old is 2.5, for a 4-8 year old it's 3.5, and for a 9-13 year old it's 5 grams. 1 tsp of salt has 6 grams, or 2400 milligrams of sodium. Here is a little info http://www.awash.org.au/cons_saltandchildren.html When I was pregnant with Bailey I worked in the Emergency Room- the docs and nurses were full of warnings and information for me and I really did appreciate it. One Dr. was the mother of three and she is who warned me about the dangers of salt. She said she had a baby come in during her residency that had pulled the salt down off of the table. The little thing died. I say baby, she was over a year old and that's still baby to me. She said 1 tsp was enough to kill a child under 3. I was mortified because I had always kept the salt on the table and I had never heard of salt poisoning. It seems like if so little of something so common were so dangerous we’d all know about it. Anyway, I still don't have a salt shaker out at my house. I keep it in the cabinet, up high.
  8. Virgil's Avatar
    Thanks Mom. Oh my, how do I learn about all these things?

    Anyway, salt is not really good for anyone. I was just reading from a nutrition newsletter that I get that a study was done that showed salt was a leading cause of hardening of arteries over time. I've been trying to reduce my salt intake to a minimum. My parents love salt on their food. My mother has a heavy hand with it and my father used to put a lot it on his food. I will say it tastes great, but once one gets used to less one adapts.
    Updated 04-10-2009 at 06:55 PM by Virgil
  9. motherhubbard's Avatar
    I know what you mean about so much to learn. The more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Kids aren't supposed to have corn or corn products in their first year either. Bailey lived on corn on the cobb. We would have to hide it until she ate other food. One night she ate 6 ears and had a fit because I wouldn't give her more. She didn't even have teeth yet!
  10. Virgil's Avatar
    Corn? I didn't know that. I have heard that children should not have honey until four or five. Is that true?
  11. motherhubbard's Avatar
    I think they can have honey after they turn 1. Peanuts and shellfish are also foods that they say we should put off during the first year. Also, give them raisins to help constipation and bananas help diarrhea and yogurt with antibiotics. I guess that’s a different topic really.
  12. Shalot's Avatar
    If it were me, I wouldn't have said anything to the parent(s) because I'm not going to confront anyone in public. If I had kids, I wouldn't let them act like that. I'd probably never take my kids anywhere because they would drive me crazy and I would yell at them in public, and then some busybody would come up and tell me how I should discipline my kids. Misbehaving kids are one kind of annoyance, but a busybody is another issue altogether. In fact, busybodies annoy me worse then anything and if I were confronted by one I would probably tell him or her to fark off. And that brings us back to why I wouldn't confront the parents of those brats to begin with.
  13. Scheherazade's Avatar
    I don't think I would personaly say anything to the parents but what about telling something to the waiters or someone in charge? It is an obvious H&S issue on many respects and they should have interfered on their own.

    Once when I was out with a friend whose son is one of the worst behaved children I have ever seen (her defence is she doesn't know what to do and she works as a Nursery Assistant). After he caused enough trouble for everyone at the restaurant, the Manager came over and told her that unless she managed to keep her son under control, they would have to ask her leave. We left.

    Even though I personally felt rather embarrassed, I still thought the Manager was right and handled it quite well.

    If those were my children, I would keep them on their chairs and leave immediately if they cause any further trouble.
  14. kiz_paws's Avatar
    I think that if children are causing a problem in a restaurant, I'd just let the management handle it.
    I do have to wonder what kind of a mom would let their children behave like this -- what message does this give the kids? And when they are in school -- do they have this long a leash there too?
    Feel sorry for the people who have to work amongst this kind of thing daily. The kids are basically told that they have the power when they are allowed to infringe on other people's rights to a quiet meal in a restaurant.
    If I had kids and this happened? Off the floor, in the car, to their room, the 'date' is over.