Parents Furious After Restaurant Gives Them A $52 Fine For Their ‘Bad Parenting’

By Haider Ali in Parenting On 17th December 2023
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Given that children often spend more than an hour sitting still while adults talk about dull topics, the topic of children at restaurants can be a little controversial.

Not quite the ideal dinner guests are those in their single digits who have just recently started to walk and talk and are eager to do so as much as possible.

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But since their parents are excellent for business and the kids aren't really that badly behaved at the end of the day, it's incredibly rare to find a restaurant that will truly ban children.

Some locales have openly banned children, while another place is adopting a somewhat different strategy, which has angered parents.

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The menu at the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in Georgia, US, states at the bottom that there is an additional price for "adults unable to parent."

It only notes that there is a "$$$" surcharge and doesn't specify how much customers will have to pay if their parenting abilities fall short of the restaurant's requirements.

The restaurant's parenting charge has been brought up in a few online reviews; one customer even claimed they were requested to pay an additional $50 (£41) at the end of their meal.

Their review read: "The owner came out and told me he was adding $50 to my bill because of my children’s behaviour.”

Parents are not the biggest fans of this legislation, as one might guess, and many have vented their frustrations on Reddit.

When they noticed this kind of fee at a restaurant, some indicated they would "probably leave," while others complained that there was "no actual amount listed" and that they didn't want to pay an amount that wasn't specified for an unspecified behavior.

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Someone else said 'f**k this place' while another said the restaurant could 'f**k right off' for making diners 'read an essay just to figure out how much you will be charged'.

Others said that "they seem fun" and expressed amazement at "the number of red flags on this menu."

The restaurant's view is amazing, according to those who had visited, but the food is so-so that it doesn't even come close to justifying the expensive fine print.

To make sure they don't offend today's youth, some places have taken extreme measures.

In an effort to curb antisocial behavior, a McDonald's once banned anyone under the age of 18 from entering the restaurant after 5 p.m.

After ' verbal and physical abuse' against its employees, the fast food restaurant with headquarters in Liverpool made the decision.

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The Toccoa Riverside Restaurant's new fee for "adults unable to parent" is causing a stir, making parents question the fairness and clarity of such policies.

This controversy reflects a broader challenge in finding a balance between family-friendly spaces and maintaining order in restaurants.