I'll bet that the wait staff and bus staff considered the high tip worth the extra effort.

Perhaps so. I doubt it was appreciated by other diners, though.

If you were a parent you would probably understand. There are degrees of limits and parental control. Tighter in someplaces and less in others. Less at a playground or park -- more at a nicer restaurant or church.

At places such as Applebee's or Red Robin your controls will be less strict than at a white linen joint. No one here advocates an out of control child, however it does happen and hopefully the parent takes care of it quickly. But the kids have more slack at a family restaurant. Its just the way it is.

Ken in Phx

"More slack" is fine. I was focsued on this from the prior post describing Applebees: "many children usually without limits or parental controls."

I can't believe they noticed more than the usual food on the tablecloth and under the table. If anyone had, I'd have politely asked them to return to their own table.

I'll defer to your description -- if you say it wasn't a case of a toddler throwing food around, I believe you. I have, however, seen this in the past -- my only point is that, even if done quietly, it's not pleasant for other diners.

Heavens, no. I'm talking about a toddler getting the hang of using a fork and spoon. It's trial and error, with emphasis on the latter.

75% of the food misses the mouth. Half of that misses the bib and winds up on the floor. No one else in the restaurant would notice unless they came over and made a point of looking.

Because of that mess, we tip extra. Pretty simple.

PS. If our child screams/acts up in ANY public setting (including a baseball game, believe it or not), I or her mother remove her as best as possible to comfort her/change her diaper, etc. It's only common courtesy. I am baffled why anyone would do anything different.

A bit off tangent but I have to ask. Do you take your child to a minor league ballgame or to the major leagues? I ask because the filthy language at major league games (especially if there is a big rivarly between the teams or the home team is losing horribly) is something I would hate to subject any child. Minor league games are MUCH MORE family friendly. Well maybe the vile language is only at games whose fans are intense like the Yankees, RS, Phillies, Mets, Chicago teams?

Not only is it common courtesy, it's very effective in getting young kids to stop acting up in the first place. They're removed from the food, folks & fun, and taken to some boring spot outside the restaurant.

I live in NYC also, and attend the Yankees games - I don't think the language is an issue (my kids are grown but went with me when younger). If you kept your kids from going places because they might be exposed to bad language they would have a pretty dull childhood.

Back to the restaurant topic, I don't believe it works to have one standard of behavior at an Applebees, and another at "better" restaurants. Children need consistency - how can a young child distingush between establishments enough to know that it's ok to act up a bit in one but not the other? It is appropriate to take children to family friendly places, and I believe they shouldn't experience fine dining until they comprehend and can adhere to acceptable table manners.

Well, where we sit, I wouldn't want to put any young child in that kind of atmosphere! We go to about 20 games per year and often we get as carried away as other fans do so we do our very best to look around to see if there are kids nearby first.

That is how our parents raised us.

She's been to ChiSox, Cubs (multiple) and Giants games.

Swearing and other bad behavior hasn't been a real problem, including in the bleachers at a Cubbies game. Don't know if the drunks self-censor in the presence of a child, or what.

It must be a northeastern thing. Glad to hear that you're taking your kids to ballgames.

I had an extreme experience with this kind of policy one time. When I was 19, I accompanied my parents on a 2-week Alaskan cruise on World Explorer Cruises (an education/ecology focused line, not a luxury line). As occupants of a fancier stateroom class, we were invited to sit at the captain's table in the dining room one night. A few hours before the dinner, we were given a letter explaining they had not realized my age, that the captain's table did not allow any guests under the age of 21, and that while my parents were welcome, "Ivyspice is invited to eat with staff member Lisa."

My parents refused the invitation, explaining that they didn't trust "staff member Lisa" to tie on my bib and cut up my fish sticks. So the three of us sat at our usual table. I thought that that was carrying the "no children" rule a little too far.