I have taken both of my children to restaurants since infants. All were places that accommodated families. My husband and I were conscious of the noise level from our children and we were prepared to make an exit if our children turned into demons during the meal. One of us would exit the restaurant and wait in the car with the offender while the other would stay with the angel and finish eating and pay the bill. Lots of parents don't care that their children become disruptive and let them go on and on with the bad behavior ....that's unfair to the other people in the restaurant who are also paying for a meal. If parents were more responsible about their children's behavior, then restaurants wouldn't have to enact such stringent rules. My children are 6 and 9 and are disturbed when other children act out in restaurants.

From the pictures I saw it looks like a diner (and a worn down one at that). My issue with policies like these is that in my experience the worst offenders when it comes to noise are other adults either talking on their phones or just talking really loudly in general. No one ever seems to try to get them to quiet down and yet 90% of the time when a kid is being loud the parents are actively working to quiet the kid.

Yes, children have outbursts and tantrums that you cannot control. But even if the kid is completely untamable, it's still not the parent's right to disturb other patrons who are trying to dine in peace.

When you have kids, there are just things that you have to give up doing. There are social sacrifices when you have a kid.

How do we expect children to learn how to behave in public if we dont take them there? Yes you start at McDonalds (or hopefully somehwere healthier) and work your way up, removing them when they misbehave. As they learn to behave you can take them to nicer and nicer places. But if they never go anywhere till they are 7 or 10 or whatever, they will not understand at that age either. I agree with Kate, I'm more disturbed by annoying or loud behaviours by adults than kids (unless parents are using an establishment to keep the kids entertained while they ignore bad behaviours).

GET A CLUE.. People cannot help it when there children are having a bad night. We cannot control there attitudes, just like you cannot control some adults.. I have seen some adults act worse then children in local places. I think banning children is horrible. It will come back on them in the long run.

There are so many sides of this issue. But, I also agree with other posters - there are just as many times I've been disturbed by immature adult and young adult behavior. Yet, usually no restaurant speaks (or even cares, really) about that. Kids are kids, and will hopefully grow out of disruptive behaviors. Adults, on the other hand, good luck with that.

Sug, I have to disagree. If you can't control a child's behavior, then you need to remove the child from the situation if other people are being disturbed.

I do not think he would have enacted this rule if it were not a major problem. He knew that this would tick off some customers with young children, but obviously they are not a main part of his customer base. I have been to many restaurants where there have been screaming children and the adults just sit there staring blankly. Also, there are some adults that are trying to diffuse the situation, but after a few minutes, it becomes a problem. There are still many children who do behave very well in public. Also, I have seen some of the worst offenders appear be over the age of 6. Obviously, I think a better policy would be to ask a parent to take their child outside or try to quiet them down. It is not a matter of whether or not a child can be controlled-we know they can't- but it does not mean you as a parent should not be responsible for controlling the situation. The problem with this is I have seen some adults get very mad at establishment's for doing so, therefore it can get very dangerous quick. If an establishment is afraid of retribution they could post something on the door to the restaurant/in the menu stating their policy on loud disturbances of any kind, which would make it easier on the staff to point out that they were warned first.

Way to go on banning kids under 6 from restaurants!:-) Who wants to listen to screaming brats while trying to enjoy a nice dinner? (Of course, part of the problem is inconsiderate parents who can't or won't control their children . . . .)

When I was a child, my parents taught me early that if we were going to a restaurant, if I wanted to be treated like a little lady, I needed to behave like a little lady. I was not taught that I was the center of the universe. If I got noisy, they told me to stop. They didn't ASK me and they sure didn't ignore me. THEY were in charge, not me. Correcting me was their duty and it did not "break my spirit" or make me antisocial.

When my kids were little, we did start with kid friendly restaurants. If they acted up in a nicer place, hey, we took them out, corrected the problem and then brought them back. No sweat.

More of a problem than the noise and distractions of kids literally running around is unattended kids IN THE FOOD AT BUFFETS!!! Adults sit at the table and visit with each other while the kids run back and forth to the buffet, putting their fingers into the noodles at the Chinese buffet, and tasting and wasting deserts at the Golden Corral. I saw one girl take the spoons for the ice cream toppings and lick them, then stick them back into the toppings.

I gave up some things when my kids were little, it didn't kill me. People feel entitled to take their kids everywhere, not because they want the kids to have the experience, but because they themselves want instant gratification. This is why you will see 18 month old kids in movie theaters at 8 pm, crying because they are tired and should be in bed...and six year olds in restaurants licking the spoons because they are bored....and 1 year olds crying their little eyes out at Disney World because its 95 degrees and they are hot, tired and don't have the first clue about what is going on.