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Should parents take their children to fancy restaurants?

Some places have "no children" policies, or at least that's what my parents told me....
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brandy76
brandy76
November 08, 2009 09:53 PM
I think if children have great table manners and are well behaved, then going to a fancy restaurant would be fine. However, especially with even the best behaved children they can still have a bad day and possibly ruin your dining experience as well as everyone else around them. When my husband and I go out to a fancy (more expensive) restaurant, we don't take the kids. We want to enjoy ourselves and not have to worry about them. However, we do take them to kid friendly restaurants. I think it's important for them to learn how to behave when eating out.
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shaunken
shaunken
November 08, 2009 10:40 PM
I think we can take them once in a while especially when there is a special occasion but not too often because they might be get used to it. :-)
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keepontryi...
keepontryi...
November 09, 2009 12:48 AM
At a certain age (you decide), children need to learn that there is a better dining experience to be had than a Happy Meal and an apple Pie. We practiced manners for a week before we took each successive middle schooner to a five star restaurant for their birthday. I'll never forget the look on their faces when they tasted their first $30 steak and $7 drink. Not that the prices made the food, the food was just GOOD, and the table cloths and cloth napkins, the multiple courses and silverware, the presentation of the wine (for the adults) and the desert choices, the candle light the man playing the violin...

It was hard to sell them on the "specialness" of Chuckie Cheese after that.
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cosmopinki...
cosmopinki...
November 09, 2009 03:05 AM
Children have every right to dine in fancy restaurants in my opinion. I believe that children have the right to experience culture and fine dining just as much as adults do. However, if someone wants to eat at a place that doesn't allow children, I don't want my child around them anyways.
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amarande
amarande
November 09, 2009 03:15 AM
I dont see any reason for parents to take young children to a fancy restaurant. Children dont really appreciate the things about a fancy restaurant that make it appealing, and they tend to have much simpler tastes in food that fancy restaurants do not cater to. Kids will have more fun and be less stifled if they are only taken to more casual eateries.

Taking children to fancy restaurants decreases the enjoyment of the meal for both the children and adults, especially if the children are misbehaving.
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marisaupa
marisaupa
November 09, 2009 04:13 AM
I believe that children have to be phased into the elegant restaurant stage. Every parent knows their child best to determine when the proper age should be for this.

By the time a parent takes a child to an elegant restaurant the parent should have already passed the child through the hurdles of the formal dinner at home, the fast food place/cafeteria, and the informal dining establishment. Those prior experiences usually serve as good practice grounds for both parent and child.
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rondata
rondata
November 09, 2009 07:26 AM
Young kids have to be "old enough" to be able to experience the delays that come with Fine Dining. You have to realize that these places, as a rule, take longer than your basic diner to serve. The also are more full of adults and people spending time with conversation than actually eating.

I have taken my own kids to these type of places, but it's not the norm for me. Also, if they cannot behave and possibly ruin another diner's experience, then I'd leave in a heart beat.

You have to know your kids and tolerance levels.

Then again, I have no qualms about leaving any places when my kids act bad. If they're not handling the situation for any reason, we can easily leave.
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suzalicie
suzalicie
November 09, 2009 07:04 PM
Personally I don't enjoy eating at a nice place with small children, because quite often they don't understand how to behave in a situation like that, or they get bored quickly and begin to entertain themselves at the expense of other diners. Or even throw tantrums and become loud and disagreeable. I didn't take mine to fancy restaurants when they were small. Once children learn manners and how to behave it is appropriate to take them to fancy restaurants.
In my opinion I wouldn't advise it until a child is at least 9 or 10 years old.
Source(s):
Personal Experience
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