This behavior at restaurants is so irritating. Not because kids don’t have a right to exist—obviously they do—but because when parents fail to put in the work to make sure their kids know how to behave in public, it makes it harder for all kids to exist peacefully.

Sometimes, I want to dine out but don’t want to be intensive parenting while doing so. So we go to a casual dining spot with a nice big outdoor patio. You know, like a brewery with lawn games. This is perfect, because the kids get to run around a bit (after the family is done eating, we’re big on sitting at the table around food) while my husband and I enjoy a drink or after-meal app.

Other times we’re at an actual restaurant and from the moment we’re seated to the moment we pay, everyone stays butt in chair. Crawling under the table? Absolutely not. Kids self-feeding before they know how to handle a spoon? COULD NOT BE ME. It’s not that hard guys, it’s just teaching basic courtesy and manners.

And yes, there are meals and restaurants we do not take our kids to, and there have been times when we’ve just had to pack it up. And there are also seasons where eating out is likely more sporadic, and more a training ritual than an enjoyable experience(my baby went through a shrieking season recently so we avoided indoor dining for a while because if we were annoyed, I can only imagine how other patrons felt).