Pennsylvania Restaurant Bans Children Under 6

Originally posted by Pervius
Civil Rights Act of 1964,

Title II, outlawed discrimination in restaurants.

A Restaurant owner can't ban all children under 6.

He can say bye bye to his restaurant. I actually support what he's doing and think it should be a National Law....

But lawyers are going to have a field day with him.

What about Right to refuse service to anyone?

This is not the first restaurant I have heard of not allowing children. I think there was another discussion a while back on ATS about the same thing.

Not sure - - - could be wrong - - - but I think I remember it was legal as long as a sign was posted and visible to customers.

reply to post by NuroSlam


Some people do not have the luxury of leaving their kids at home. Or the money to hire a baby sitter. Or to trust to let some stranger sit your kids.
And if you left your toddler at home alone you'd have DCF taking your kids away.

Unless you've been in the situation of having kids you have no concept of what it entails.

He's free to do what he wants in his restaurant. But he's losing money by excluding families with kids.
And I'm sure that those families will not ever eat at that place ever again.

And btw I'm free to call that guy a giant douche-bag.

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


Karma is going to bite you in the ass.
You are going to have 4 kids. Watch.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
If a grown man in a restaurant started screaming at the top of his lungs, the management wouldn't think a thing of removing him for the pleasure of the other diners. Nor would the diners feel bad about asking something to be done.

I don't know why they can't do the same for children. I don't know why children should get a free pass to behave in a disruptive manner, and everyone else is just supposed to accept it. Part of paying to eat at a nice restaurant is for the atmosphere.

Yes, I was a kid once. But my parents NEVER took me to adult restaurants until I was of an age to behave myself. NEVER. Taking babies to restaurants, movies and other public places where adults are meant to gather and enjoy themselves is just really selfish on the part of the parents.

Get a babysitter until the child is old enough to behave or go to McDonald's or Chuck E. Cheese.

Again some people do not have the money or simply do not have anyone that can babysit the kids.

Parents work hard. And parents should be able to go out once in a while and enjoy life too.

Originally posted by grey580
reply to post by NuroSlam

 

Some people do not have the luxury of leaving their kids at home. Or the money to hire a baby sitter. Or to trust to let some stranger sit your kids.

I always find self-entitlement an interesting social phenomenon.

A business owner is not responsible because someone chose to have kids.

When I go out to eat - - I want it to be MY experience. I do not want to share someone else's experience.

reply to post by Adyta


It's different because the biological and mental differences between a grown black man and a grown white man are negligible, almost non-existent. But there are clear objective differences when it comes to the child. Children under six have yet to develop mentally, they are physiologically different. Let alone developing the skills to not play with their food and scream like banshees at the dinner table.

Don't get me wrong, I don't support the restaurants decision and honestly think its a bit silly, but the equivalent to Nazi Germany it is not.

I owned a restaurant in Pennsylvania, and i didn't let anyone under 21 in.

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by grey580
reply to post by NuroSlam

 

Some people do not have the luxury of leaving their kids at home. Or the money to hire a baby sitter. Or to trust to let some stranger sit your kids.

I always find self-entitlement an interesting social phenomenon.

A business owner is not responsible because someone chose to have kids.

When I go out to eat - - I want it to be MY experience. I do not want to share someone else's experience.

Self-entitlement? I find it interesting how people are a bunch selfish douche bags and have no compassion for the plight of others an interesting social phenomenon.

Imagine waking up early in the morning to get your kids ready and taken to daycare then go to work only to come back and pick your kids up at daycare then going home to cook dinner, clean the house and put your kids to sleep. And hope that they aren't sick and keep you up all nite.
Then you get to repeat that over and over and over again for years.
Imagine how hard that is if you're a single parent.

You don't have to share that experience but you don't have to make it harder for them either.

The business owner can do whatever he wants. But I hope he realizes he's losing customers by doing so.
I would get all the parents in the town and go there with our kids and walk into the place and sit down in protest.
Show him how many customers he's losing out on.

Until people can control their broods of screaming, disrespectful fit throwing ankle biters, they'd better get used to this as a sign of things to come. I come from the ideals of 'children should be seen and not heard', and because of proper manners taught at a young age, my family and I were welcome in many establishments, even those that were inherently unfriendly to most children because of their elevated atmosphere. It doesn't take a village to raise a child, it takes someone who cares enough to teach their children courtesy. If you like churlish baby neanderthals then please, by all means, stay at McDonald's. And by the way, this doesn't make me self centered or whatever those who would oppose might think. I have a son with disabilities, and even though he cannot talk, he still, STILL knows his manners, works his charm, and leaves behind a crowd of admirers everywhere he goes. Why? Because he was TAUGHT to respect others! His life will be so much better because of his positive interactions with those he meets!

reply to post by volafox


How do you propose disciplining a crying 6 month old?
Let me know.

Originally posted by grey580

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by grey580
reply to post by NuroSlam

 

Some people do not have the luxury of leaving their kids at home. Or the money to hire a baby sitter. Or to trust to let some stranger sit your kids.

I always find self-entitlement an interesting social phenomenon.

A business owner is not responsible because someone chose to have kids.

When I go out to eat - - I want it to be MY experience. I do not want to share someone else's experience.

Self-entitlement? I find it interesting how people are a bunch selfish douche bags and have no compassion for the plight of others an interesting social phenomenon.

Imagine waking up early in the morning to get your kids ready and taken to daycare then go to work only to come back and pick your kids up at daycare then going home to cook dinner, clean the house and put your kids to sleep. And hope that they aren't sick and keep you up all nite.
Then you get to repeat that over and over and over again for years.
Imagine how hard that is if you're a single parent.

You don't have to share that experience but you don't have to make it harder for them either.

I agree with the restaurant owners who say it is selfish when customers are disturbed by misbehaved children.

I am now a grandmother - - raising an 11 year old and a 3 1/2 year old. I was also a single mom of two daughters. Save me the poor me mom lecture.

I took my own children (and grandchildren) off hours to family restaurants - - until they knew what was expected of them and they could place their own order off an adult menu (no hamburgers or fries allowed).

The biggest problem I had was waitresses refusing to take their order for Lobster - - and trying to get them to order from the children's menu.

This particular restaurant is also a golf course.

If children were behaved in restaurants - - no one would feel the need to ban them.

This restaurant owner - - didn't just out of the blue decide - - "Oh! I think I'll ban kids today because I feel like it".

He did it because he'd had enough.

Don't blame him. Blame the parents who ruined it for all other parents.

It's private property and a private business and they can make whatever rules and policies that they want. Typically policy of this nature, much like the "no shirt, no shoes, no service" signs, are posted outside the establishment and it's your responsibility as a patron to observe this before entering the premises. Don't like their policy, go to a different business.

Minimum age restrictions are not uncommon in places of business. It's NOT a slippery slope and doesn't set any sort of precedence. And is ENTIRELY different than racial, gender, and religious discrimination.

I once worked at a movie theater chain. Because of the neighborhood it was in you had to be 17+ to get in to see ANY movie, regardless of rating after 8pm on a Saturday night. In addition children under 2 were not permitted into ANY R rated film at anytime with or (obviously) without a parent. There were parents that complained. But bottom line other customers appreciated it because they could watch mature movies without that crying baby in the back row. Personally, unless its a kids film, I don't think parents should take kids that age to the theater in the first place - can't afford or get a sitter find something else to do and don't ruin it for others.

And for the record - I have one 8 year old and a newborn on the way so I can see from both sides of the debate.

I live in Florida and would love to see some restaurants do this but on the other end...limit clientele to those 55 and under.

reply to post by Annee


If the child is misbehaved that's one thing.

But banning all children?

A newborn that just eats and sleeps?

What if the child is behaving just fine?

This is frustrating to see in this day and age.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

I'm coming at this from a legal angle: isn't this age discrimination?

No because very few 6 year old children are paying customers at a restaurant. their parents are. This is more of a commentary on the sad state of life we are in now a days.

Parents no longer need to control their children, and most don't. But heaven forbid the guy ask them to get their kids to quiet down or leave.

If I'm next to you at a restaurant yelling and screaming and running around, I doubt you'd have a problem if they asked me to leave.

No shirt, no shoes, no service. If parents could control their kids in public this wouldn't be an issue, obviously they can't.

without doing any research myself, I'm assuming this place is similar to some of the places around where I live, trendy type places that, affluent, people like to frequent. These affluent "elites" eventually squirt out a kid or two, and drag them and the stroller into the place, having a chat with friends or what not, completely oblivious to the hell raising the child is doing.

Much like a hoarder eventually loses the ability to actually see or smell the crap around them, parents become immune to the cries.

I am not. Shut your damn kid up or leave like a civilized individual, don't sit there "ignoring it" because:

A. it shows a complete and utter lack of respect for those around you
B. doesn't work as a parenting tool.

Originally posted by Missing Blue Sky
I live in Florida and would love to see some restaurants do this but on the other end...limit clientele to those 55 and under.

LOL! This reminds me of Neil Rogers who passed away recently. Neil Rogers
He always called them old farts and blue hairs who stole diner roles and sweet & low from restaurants. And said to ban the elderly from driving because they caused so many accidents.
He also claimed that broward was an open air cemetary.

Funny.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
You are talking about two completely different age groups. Now if that grown man has mental disabilities, people would not find it so odd.

Now are we going to ban them too?

I'm not talking about banning anyone. Did you read all of my post?

I think a restaurant owner should be allowed to dictate behavior, but not ban certain people.

I think seniors should be eliminated too because they hold tables too long and their walkers take up too much room.

And I certainly didn't talk about anyone being 'eliminated'.

Need I go on about the oh so behaved and civilized adults?

No. You didn't need to even bring it up in the first place because it's not at all what I was suggesting.

Originally posted by grey580
Some people do not have the luxury of leaving their kids at home. Or the money to hire a baby sitter. Or to trust to let some stranger sit your kids.

But they have the money to take them out to a nice restaurant? Look, just because someone is short on money doesn't mean that the rest of the restaurant should have their evening ruined by misbehaving children (or misbehaving people of ANY age).

No one is blaming the kids. It's the parents who think the world should just put up with their kids because they have chosen to breed. I'm not impressed. Breeding is easy. Raising a child to properly behave in public is hard.

Originally posted by grey580
Self-entitlement? I find it interesting how people are a bunch selfish douche bags and have no compassion for the plight of others an interesting social phenomenon.

Yes. Self-entitlement: Parents work hard and are entitled to go out for a nice evening.

This is true, but they are not "entitled" to ruin the evening of everyone else in the restaurant by dragging their screaming children into a public dining experience.

Imagine how hard that is if you're a single parent.

Parents CHOOSE to have kids. They CHOOSE a career. You're sounding like parents are victims and doing the world a favor by bringing kids into it and everyone should just defer to them and their kids... Sorry, I don't agree.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


Problem is you can't discipline your children any more.
Especially in public.
Someone will call the cops and you'll be hauled off to jail.
Then DCF will be called in and your kids will be taken away and stuck in foster care to be molested by the foster family.

father jailed for spanking son with belt.

Originally posted by grey580
How do you propose disciplining a crying 6 month old?

You don't. You don't take a 6-month old into a nice restaurant or movie theater. If you do, and they start crying, you get up and leave. Simple. Have some accountability.