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Originally Posted by MysticCat81
I agree. When I said the child should have been left at home, it was not because children should never darken the doors of a nice restaurant, it was because if the kid needed a DVD player at the restaurant, then she didn't need to be there to begin with.
I agree completely that kids need to learn good manners and acceptable behavior in public settings. Last time I checked, it was neither good manners nor acceptable behavior to watch TV at the dinner table. This kid wasn't learning how to fit into her parent's lives, she was learning that they will adapt their lives to what she wants.
One can't have it both ways -- Either they are teaching her how to behave in public, meaning she actually carries on a conversation with them, or they are teaching her to be anti-social at the dinner table.
Taualumna's original question was not whether it was inconsiderate to other diners for the girl to be at the restaurant -- assuming she had headphones, then it wasn't inconsiderate. Her question was whether the child would have been better off at home with a sitter. I think she would have been.
And trust me, I know how hard it can be to get a sitter sometimes, and the problems that ensue when a sitter cancels at the last minute. You deal with it. You change plans as necessary, and you reschedule the nice dinner at the nice restaurant.
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Excellent point!
ETA: You're right that the DVD didn't teach the child anything except BAD manners. However, I do think it's important for children to learn how to behave in a nice restaurant, and shouldn't always be exposed to family restaurants. If this child needed a DVD in order to behave, then yes, I agree, she should have been left home with a babysitter rather than disturbing other diners.