Dear Parents at the Next Table at Freebirds last night:

This is a restaurant, not track and field. Your child needs to sit in their chair, not run laps around the place. And no, telling your child “You have to ask the Manager if you can run around” is not an acceptable way to quell their running about.

When the child refuses to ask the Manager and instead asks if they can go outside with younger sibling in tow to continue running about… please don’t be surprised if I question your judgment in not just letting your sub-6-year-old children out of your sight, but also in letting the children play in the parking lot.

I will say I was happy to see Dad finally get up to go mind the children, but it took the “older” child coming back into the restaurant and hollering that his sibling went into a store down the strip. I know a way to have prevented this, but if I told you you’d just think I was being an asshole questioning your parenting skills. Well yes… yes I am.

Note as well, this dining establishment does not have busboys; you are expected to clean up after yourself. Yes, that means when your infant makes an unholy mess on the floor, YOU need to clean it up. I expect a 6-9 month old baby to make a mess when they eat because that’s what they do and cannot be expected to know better. But you appear to be a 20-somthing “adult” and I expect you to know better. Apparently I expect too much.

And then you wonder why people don’t like (your) children. Really, it has little to do with the children… it has everything to do with their parents.