“Dear Gabbie” is written with the simple hope of bringing a few smiles to your day and is not meant to replace the advice of professionals…especially your mom!

Dear Gabbie:

Twice this week, our evenings out at a restaurant were interrupted by a screaming child. In both cases, parents took the child out of the restaurant then brought them back in only to have them start screaming again. We’re talking SCREAMING…not screaming! I can’t help wondering why parents insist on bringing children out to eat when they can’t behave.

Signed,

The Scream

Dear Scream,

I experienced a similar situation recently, and I admit I couldn’t stop the grimace on my face when the child’s scream hit decibels that rivaled an ongoing smoke alarm in tight quarters! But I quickly gained control of myself and remembered back to a time when I couldn’t always predict how my children would behave out in public.

Of course it’s every parent’s dream to raise children who are perfectly behaved in public (and at home, for that matter!), but the reality is, most little ones are utterly unpredictable. Take, for instance, a child who might be completely thrilled to receive a balloon from a roving clown at a restaurant and another who is absolutely terrified—by the clown, the balloon, or maybe just the shape of the chicken nuggets they’ve been served!

No matter what, all families do, occasionally, deserve an evening out, so my initial advice is to try to grin and bear it. (Ideally, parents should think ahead and pack a few distractions for their children.) In your examples, the parents obviously recognized their children were disruptive and they did attempt to take them outside to calm them. While I would stop short of saying anything to the parents in the restaurant, we can only hope that those who already know their children are not going to behave in a restaurant would refrain from taking their children out until they reach an age at which they can be reasoned with—like maybe 21! 😊

Gabbie