The Good Things in Life > Random acts of kindness and grace
A restaurant full of children!
gjcva1:
agree with all who suggested complimenting the parents and/or the children on their good restaurant manners. it's immediate feedback for the children, and coming from an unrelated adult, it really brings the point home so much more than a compliment from Mom or Dad would. at least that's how it worked with my kids.
HogwartsAlum:
--- Quote from: gjcva1 on December 06, 2006, 01:50:30 PM ---agree with all who suggested complimenting the parents and/or the children on their good restaurant manners. it's immediate feedback for the children, and coming from an unrelated adult, it really brings the point home so much more than a compliment from Mom or Dad would. at least that's how it worked with my kids.
--- End quote ---
Oh yes, definitely. Sometimes I think kids think Mom and Dad are the only ones who care if they behave or not (at least we did!) and it is always helpful to know that other people notice. Especially when they are being good!
Hee hee, my mom would always say "Santa Claus is watching you..." when we were being bratty. It worked for a while.... ;)
audhs:
--- Quote from: stanthedevil on December 06, 2006, 12:28:25 PM ---They all thanked me. I must have made their day.
--- End quote ---
You probably did. I was told the other day that my 2 year old was the most polite child in the church nursery (these kids are 1 and 2 years old) because she was the only one who said please and thankyou when she wanted crackers. :) It certainly made my day to know that she was being polite with others since she's been such a defient little one since the baby was born.
Alida:
I used to beam when people would come up to compliment DD on her behavior as a small child. We do a lot of traveling and eating out. By the age of 3, DD dined with us in 3 and 4 star restaurants, as good as gold (thank God, I would have died of embarassment otherwise!).
I really think the parents and the children would have been happy to have been complimented on how well behaved the children were. It's so much nicer than having to complain about them.
kareng57:
I agree - it's really not-out-of-this-world to teach kids how to behave in restaurants. Of course a lot of it is based on what happens at home. If the kids generally eat pizza or chicken-nuggets in front of the TV, naturally it's unrealistic to expect them to automatically know how to behave in a sit-down restaurant.
I do remember when my kids were about 7 and 8, and we were visiting the tearoom at the Cranbrook Railway Museum (it's excellent if anyone is ever in the area of south-eastern BC). We'd all wanted a snack, and the boys asked if they were allowed to sit at a table by themselves, across from us. We said okay, and actually there were quite a few compliments given our way, usually by senior-people. It wasn't unprescedented-though, a few months earlier I'd gotten a similar compliment in church. I hadn't known that there was no SundaySchool that day, so they'd had to stay with me in the sanctuary. A very nice elderly gentleman complimented me on their behaviour. Well okay, they were most likely a bit bored, but did the fact that they weren't performing acrobaticcs among the pews deserve a compliment? I know I'm old-fashioned but I taught my kids that there are sometimes that you "sit down and shut up".
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version