Businesses Ban Bratty Kids

Restaurants and Hotels Are Saying No To Misbehaving Children

(CBS)  Comedian Adrianne Frost was so fed up with other people's kids that she wrote a book called "I Hate Other People's Kids."

It's so bad, Frost said that if kids walk into a restaurant she's dining in, she will leave. If they sit down behind her on a plane, "I jump out with a parachute," Frost told The Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen, who has a year-old son.

The Early Show is beginning a three-part series called "The Bratty Bunch," which focuses on dealing with badly behaved kids, something Koeppen understands well. She said that she feels embarrassed when her son misbehaves in public.

Unruly kids make good comedy for Frost, but for many people it's no laughing matter. Dan McCuley, who owns a café in Chicago, said that some kids were behaving terribly when they came in with their parents.

"The kids were kind of out of control and they weren't being supervised," he said.

McCuley put a sign on the door that warned: "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices."

"It's been very good for business. Since we put the sign up, business has increased 33 percent," he said.

Business is also up at some kid-free hotels such as SuperClubs Resort in Jamaica. In New York, Jodi Smith has created her own class, "manners for minors," which teaches parents how to end bratty behavior.

"Kids even as young as 1 1/2 and 2 understand the difference between when they can be silly and when they shouldn't be," Smith said.

Frost has her own cure for bratty kids.

"The solution is harnesses and leashes," she said.

For information on how to deal with misbehaved children go to MannerSmith.com.

[catt42701]

There is one sure thing that will work. When and if your children act out in a store, restraunt, or any public place it is time to leave. Sooner or later you will learn to control your children if you have to leave every time they act out or they will learn contrly on their own. It is especially important to leave if it is something that they really want to do or if there is something in the shopping cart or plans that they want badly. They will then learn that they don't get their goodies if the act up. It's terrible when children are rewarded for bad behavior. It leads to adults that have no clue on how to behave in society. My children took trips to the bathroom when they behaved badly. They learned proper behavior. A child must know that there are consequences for bad, rude behavior.

[friendsmom63]

oleander, you suck! i'm a college student with a working husband and we chose a day care with similar values and an educational environment for our son. if you're present in the child's life more than half the time, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with someone else caring for your child while you set an example in education, responsibility and love for your family.

[friendsmom63]

cladanye: i would respond to your kids with a swat on the butt. 12 is not too old for discipline. and i'm sure social services would welcome discipline in many american homes.
MUUUWAHAAHAHAHA!

[friendsmom63]

i think the "children of ALL ages" sign is great. some children are remarkably well behaved, sometimes older kids will help with the younger, etc. and those kids should be welcome anywhere. no parent likes to hear grumbles and "check!" when they walk into friday's with their child.

[cladanye-2009]

exusmcsgt-
I never said beat, it is the plain fact the if you even touch them. Do do you have kids?

[rcsmith81]

cladanye -

I agree with you 100% - it's the laws of today that hinder the parents' ability to decipline their offspring.

[hhughes73]

I think one of the biggest problems in today's society is the fact we are under constant surveillance. We can not even put our children in their car seats in a Walmart parking lot without being filmed. We correct our children in a mannerism someone may not agree with and we could make national news. How can we teach our children how to behave when we can't behave the way we sometimes need to in order to keep them in line. Society has made children feel they are in control, because children are smart and they can figure out Mom can't punish me in public. I am not talking about hitting or spanking, how do we use the time-out method to punish a child when you are in a Resturant? Waiting till you get home is not the answer, so I ask what is?

[kwhurst]

Let's first remember that we were all children at some point in our lives. Part of being a kid is learning how to control emotions and how to interact with other people. Children are not dogs; they can't be controlled by being put on a leash or a harness. Children are taught by example, by love, by proper training.
Adrianne Frost is being absolutely childish by walking out of a place just because a child walks in the door. Apparently, she was a perfect child with no obedience or social dysfunction whatsoever.
I have three children and if they ever were to act up in public they would immediately be dealt with. That is part of being a responsible parent. I have seen parents that do not discipline well and they should take the responsibility to help and train their children. Children, despite what Smith says, are not in complete control by age 1 1/2 to 2. They are just beginning to learn what is right and wrong. It is their training period not time to play a perfected game. Some kids, no matter how hard a parent tries, are more challenging. But many adults that think like Frost would rather have kids cut out of society or become like robots - controlled by on/off switches and mute buttons. They want parents to be ashamed to have children anywhere. Everyone needs to gain a little tolerance and compassion. They need to remember what childhood is and stop making children grow into adulthood at age 2.

[exusmcsgt]

cladanye-

Beating your child is not the only way to punish them.

[ecuadoriana]

To add to my previous post- for the record I am the mother of a successful, well mannered, respectful, responsible 23 yr old. My daughter works in a financial institution & is horrified by people her age- & older- who walk in demanding this or that. She can't believe how rude & arrogant people are & the way she is treated by the public. She even can't believe that men insist on wearing baseball caps in restaurants, banks, etc. She asked me "Why are grown men walking around dressed like little boys? Why don't they pull their pants up? They look like their mommy didn't change their diaper this morning!" She calls me & thanks me for standing strong as a parent & teaching her how to conduct herself in public. She is embarrassed that such rude people her age are representing her generation!

I taught her be accountable for her actions, to make decisions that would benefit the common good, & THINK before acting, because "actions speak louder than words".