Eating out with very young children - Page 3

Smiddy · #31 11-08-2009, 12:05

As i've been going to PP for over 20 yrs ( i know i've told you before

i suppose i can join both sides of the debate, i've dined with buggies and now dine as a mature diner

.

My wife always made sure the kids were well fed BEFORE we went out, that way they tended to be quite happy in their buggies as long as we gave them a bit of bara now and then, more often than not they would fall asleep ! But, we rarely took them to enclosed upper-end restaurants, as i always felt there were more than enough open-air/facing beach type restaurants which are far more conjusive to family-type dining, kids get bored very easily in enclosed restaurants.

People who prefer to dine without the presence of children are perfectly entitled to voice there opinion, rather than suffer in silence, and should not be chastized for doing so.

sws97sdg · #32 11-08-2009, 12:18

I cant remember anyone saying that people are not entitled to an opinion, I can remember people saying the idea that all children should be banned from restaurants after 9 was ridiculous though

pollensaparadise · #33 11-08-2009, 12:20

Please forgive me but I thought this was a holiday resort where strange as it may seem people bring their children with them to enjoy a family holiday.

HOW VERY ODD

Belladonna · #34 11-08-2009, 13:09

Smiddy, you have hit the nail very squarely on the head with your comments. PP is a resort which caters for ALL the family; young couples, families with children, couples with grown up children and couples who have "been there, done that".
So to have a restaurant that caters for all under one roof would be impossible, hence different restaurants - both inside and out!
Viva la difference and may they all work well beside each other, and we can all experience different types of restaurants as our lives change.

debz1 · #35 11-08-2009, 13:09

Agree entirely with Smiddy that kids get so bored in enclosed restaurants that when you have young children it makes much more sense to eat outdoors so they can play in the square or on the beach, before (hopefully!) falling asleep in their buggies.

I can see both sides as we now go to restaurants we wouldn't have dreamed of taking the children to when they were younger, and thats just how holidays change over the years. It would be wrong though to ban kids from restaurants after a certain time and it has to be left to parents to act responsibly. If I was in a higher end restauarnt and someones kid was kicking off or running riot and spoiling my meal I would definitely complain to the maitre di and expect the parents to be told to keep them in check.

Sparky · #36 11-08-2009, 13:24

Quote:

If I was in a higher end restauarnt and someones kid was kicking off or running riot and spoiling my meal I would definitely complain to the maitre di and expect the parents to be told to keep them in check.

Yes Debs,
but surely parents should keep their offspring in check whether it be a "Higher" or lower end restaurant. Either way this debate is really pointless as, children will always be welcome here at any time. I for one say long may that continue.

debz1 · #37 11-08-2009, 14:15

sparky, I said higher end as these are the restaurants that tend to be enclosed ie Clivia, El Cantonet, Font del Gal etc .These places are much more conducive to a meal a deux or with friends. They are very different from places like Little Italy and Tots for example, and those in the square which due to their location are much more geared up for families with young children.

Of course children should be ' kept in check' and not be allowed to run riot, wherever they are, but even the most well behaved child likes to let off steam and therefore some restaurants are more suitable than others.

sws97sdg · #38 11-08-2009, 14:21

La font del Gall have always excepted children, we have been taking ours there ever since we started going there, although the youngest is now 16, they have seating outside as well suitable for buggies?

snowy2007 · #39 11-08-2009, 15:16

sws97sdg you made the very point OUTSIDE.

sws97sdg · #40 11-08-2009, 15:22

Actually I said outside as well meaning either, and of coarse they have aircon inside which is better for the babies to sleep in the buggies

Cocoa07 · #41 11-08-2009, 16:07

We have taken our daughter to PP from being 6 months old (14 now) and we do tend to eat late but she has always been fine - whether we have eaten at the Clivia, C'an Ferrar, Llenaire's, etc..
We have tried to teach her to have manners - she was/is a child and if it became obvious to us that she was bored then one of us would go for a walk with her. Or we would talk to her and include her - it is everyone's holiday after all.
As there used to be 8 in our party there was always someone on hand but also, we used to put together an 'activity bag' before we went on holiday. Buy a lovely bag and fill it with lots of things - reading books, activity/puzzle/colouring books, pens, etc. We would give her some of it on the plane (hence kept her amused on the flight) and then add little bits throughout the holiday. The bag came everywhere and she always had something to do which meant that she was happy, we were happy and relaxed and so were other diners.
I hate the sound of a child running around unsupervised - yes it can be dangerous and also annoying for other diners, but I think that someone else said it earlier - this is generally down to parents not teaching their children the right way to behave.
The only restaurant that I ever felt uncomfortable in with my daughter when she was very young was the C'an Costa in Pollenca. The restaurant was beautiful, food lovely but it really didn't feel right and my husband and I were on edge. There was far too much stunning glassware for a child to be near!
Otherwise we have always been welcomed - behave as you would like others too and I don't think that you can go far wrong.

Sparky · #42 11-08-2009, 16:14

Exactly Cocoa, "behave as you would like others to ", you have it in a nutshell. Thank you

favie · #43 11-08-2009, 18:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cocoa07

The only restaurant that I ever felt uncomfortable in with my daughter when she was very young was the C'an Costa in Pollenca. The restaurant was beautiful, food lovely but it really didn't feel right and my husband and I were on edge. There was far too much stunning glassware for a child to be near!
Otherwise we have always been welcomed - behave as you would like others too and I don't think that you can go far wrong.

Lovely post Cocoa....and that activity bag is a must!

This is what Debz and others were saying earlier, there are some restaurants that are just too ostentatious for little children and there are so many beautiful restaurants where parents can feel much more relaxed without being on edge!! Nothing worse than paying higher prices and having to take baby for a walk to quiet her/him down!!The times when we have ventured into these types of restaurants I have NEVER seen little children/babies, Spanish or otherwise!So we are not alone in our opinion. BTW I love children too!!

Portofan · #44 11-08-2009, 19:49

That’s nearly a week now since I passed a remark on the “Latitude” topic.

“Buggies beside the tables drive me loopy.”

And so they do!

But only beside the tables on indoor restaurants.

Why?

They are dangerous. I don’t have a problem in general, with very young children in restaurants, PP is a family resort after all. As soon as the buggy goes in to the restaurant in most cases the waiting staff will offer a high chair/baby seat and if the child is old enough/ big enough can sit on an adult chair.

Some years ago in PP near to us in an indoor restaurant was a couple with two young children and I can’t remember either a double buggy or two individual ones. The restaurant was heaving and yes you got it, the waiter bringing our tureen of piping hot soup had to dance round the buggies and tipped the tureen over our table, thankfully not us, it would have been a scald job.

Did I say in my “Latitude” post that I did not like or did not approve of very young children in restaurants? No!

Nothing is better than to see families enjoying their eating out in a family resort like PP.

A great example is the Spanish families in somewhere like Ikebana on a Sunday.

Have to say I was absolutely astonished by the tone of the originator’s posts, more than that I will not say.

We are all entitled to our opinions, as has been well demonstrated by various people in the last week.

PP is a family resort, for all ages to enjoy their hard earned holidays, and specially after a certain cut off time in the evening ,say 8.30 pm, that those who wish a child free environment or at least an environment where parents will look after and control their children, is not too much to ask for.

We have had a wide variety of views in the last week, some poles apart but that is what the Forum is for.

What has been so enjoyable over the five years I have been a member is that we just don’t do ageism, racism, sexism, politics or religion and I am sad to see that ageism has raised it’s head today. That is not acceptable and there should be no repeat.

We don’t all agree one with another, but there has been a notable disrespect for others’ viewpoints.

Belladonna · #45 11-08-2009, 20:51

Although I agree that some people have disrespected others points of view, there have also been some fairly put strong opinions and some of those opinions have been taken the wrong way - or not read properly in the first place - and so caused a repeat of those points again and again.
To repeat them does not change peoples minds, or even give some cause for a rethink.
Its clear that we all need different things from a holiday and as long as that destination is able to give them all, then we should all be happy!
There, Ive repeated myself, but I cant see a problem with us all accepting that different restaurants should be geared to different tastes.