Table Manners

Tonight we went out to dinner. Every so often that's just a nice thing for us to do as a family, and the restaurants aren't nearly as crazy as they are on a Friday or a Saturday.

The place was busy, but not crowded. We had ourselves a nice little booth in a mostly-filled section, but nobody in the immediate tables next to us. There was a nice tall brick partition separating us from the elevated section on the other side.

Shortly after we ordered our dinner, a little head popped up over the partition. It belonged to a little girl who was perhaps 4 or 5 years old. She pretty much spent the entire rest of our meal hanging over the brick wall staring at us. And I do mean hanging - the entire upper half of her body was draped over the wall.

As I was getting more & more annoyed, Husband would occasionally ask her to sit down - and she would - but invariably she'd pop back up again in a few minutes.

After we finished eating Bug had to go to the bathroom (We are far more potty trained in public than we are at home!! Go figure.) I decided to take a detour past this little girl's table on the way back to ours, intending on asking the parents to seat their little girl.

However, as I neared their table it quickly became apparent that not only did they know what their daughter was up to - they thought it was cute.

Allow me to speak for the world: IT IS NOT CUTE TO LET YOUR CHILD HANG OVER SOMEONE ELSE'S TABLE.

Keep the source in mind too - I am not an old curmudgeon spinster. We are not a childless DINKs. We do, however, work very hard to teach our children appropriate manners, and would love it if you would do the same.