Woman who asked parents to remove their crying child from the restaurant wonders if she was wrong

People dine out to enjoy their time with family or friends. But what happens when a child in a restaurant starts crying non-stop and the parents do nothing about it? This is what happened to u/wrong_ad_3951, who shared her unpleasant experience on Reddit. The community supported her reaction to the situation.

The 23-year-old shared that the incident took place when she was out with her boyfriend at a restaurant. She wrote, "The restaurant isn't a Michelin star-esque place. However, the place does serve well-prepared food, so you can likely guess that the majority of its patrons want to enjoy their food." She revealed that while they were there, a family with children was sitting not too far from them. Among them, one child looked to be around 10 years old and the younger one was around two.

The woman recalled they were enjoying their meal when the younger kid started to "shriek." She explained, "When I say shrieking, I'm talking about the ear-piercing type that is physically painful. It goes on for about 10 minutes, and by this point, I'm getting annoyed since I've paid to enjoy my meal, and the child isn't shutting up." When the 23-year-old couldn't bear it anymore, she walked over to the family's table and asked the parents if someone could take the child outside until he calmed down.

This didn't go down well with the mother. She told the woman that he was just a child and she needed to show some compassion. The woman shared, "I responded by telling her that I've paid to enjoy my meal and that if she isn't going to get her child to be quiet, then she needs to do everyone in the restaurant a favor and take the child outside. After I sit down, I see the mother calling over one of the waiters. She proceeded to tell them that I was rude to her and that I was making her uncomfortable."

Thankfully, one of the other customers told the waiter that wasn't the case and that the mother had been allowing her child to cry while others were trying to eat. "The parents left eventually, but not before shooting me an evil look," the woman wrote. She later narrated the incident to her friend, who told her she should have been kinder and more considerate to the family since parenting is difficult. "I told my friend that they chose to have kids, and, as such, they need to parent them better. My friend didn't seem to like what I said in the slightest," she said.

The woman concluded her post by asking fellow Reddit users if she was wrong in asking the parents to take the crying child outside. u/halfwaygonetoo commented, "While being a parent is difficult, there are still courtesies that need to be followed. Those courtesies include removing a child from a public place if they are not behaving, crying or screaming. Funny enough, this also teaches the child that their actions are unacceptable and that they will lose out on fun if they don't behave properly."

u/gwacemom said, "Yes if your child is having a moment, you should remove them from the situation as a courtesy to those around you. Having said that, your recourse was to speak to someone who worked at the establishment and allow them to handle the situation. Parent shaming did not work well for you, but having a member of management speak with them probably would." u/[deleted] expressed, "For all of you suggesting that OP take it up with the waiter, just stop. Serving staff have enough on their plates, and wrangling customers' kids is not in their job description. It is strictly a management problem. Management has the authority to step in—your server, who's just trying to get through the night without getting screamed at by the expo, does not."