Recently, Mike Vuick, owner of McDain’s Restaurant in Pennsylvania, banned children
under six years old from eating at his establishment. This is causing a major online
brouhaha.
He defends his new policy by saying that his upscale-casual restaurant is not a suitable
environment for noisy children who, because of their age or lack of parental oversight,
have no manners.
While many moms are raging against his stand, I’m on Mike Vuick’s side. I have a
toddler and a preschooler that we occasionally take out to eat. When we do so, my husband
and I wisely avoid restaurants ill-suited for our little ladies in training (I stress the “in
training” part).
For example, I would never take the kids to our favorite, hole-in-the-wall Japanese
restaurant. Why? Because it’s so quiet even a ninja couldn’t sneak up on you in there. I
wouldn’t dare bring them to a place with high prices, a killer bar and no kids menu. I’m
not down with forking over cash to have an evening spent pleading with my children to
use their inside voices, stop flicking ice cubes, and to eat the $18 truffle-oil macaroni.
What Mike Vuick is really tired of are parents who lack good judgment.
Just as dining establishments have put out signs saying, “No Shirt, No Shoes, No
Service,” Mike Vuick’s sign might as well say, “No Manners, No Restraint, No Service.”
And I’m ok with that.