Restaurateur goes viral for adding $50 to parents' bill, saying kids belong 'at Burger King'

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Right. Children are rarely willfuly bad, they are just being kids.

I have one friend who is incredibly critical of normal little kid behavior out in public. What angers me is that I'm pretty certain her only child was at least as bad as the worst of those kids. I don't know for sure, as I didn't know her then.

All kids have good and bad days. It is up to the parents to do their best to help them do well in public. As I said above, we usually carried things for the kids to play with when in restaurants. And we tried to choose ones that were kid-friendly. And we took a mis-behaving kid outside many times. This is why when I'm in a restaurant, or anywhere in public, and some small child is being less than perfect, I'm understanding. Been there, done that. The parents don't need judgement.

When my second son was less than a year old, I was in a store with him and he did a classic "throw himself on the floor in a temper tantrum". I backed away, because I was not about to reward that behavior. A couple of other women somewhat older than me, came up, looked around, realized I was the mom and said, "Oh, we are so glad we are past this stage." Honestly, their comment was incredibly helpful. They made me understand that my son was doing something pretty normal. Oh, and after maybe five minutes, he gave up on the temper tantrum, I was able to take him out of the store, and he never did anything like that again, ever.