11:30 am Mass yesterday...

As a parent who takes their two year old in with them on the rare occasion I actually make a worship service, I would have no problem with someone saying something to me if my son was disturbing them. I think as long as you're polite and respectful about it you have every right to ask them to either keep their kid quiet or leave.

 

See Bucko, you would have left with this kid before anybody would have said anything to you. He was an asshole.

 

IMO Parents take their kids along TOO much nowdays. Get sick of seeing kids everywhere I go, and then don't know when their kids are BUGGING the rest of us.

 

Honestly, this is starting to bug me too. I'm not a parent so I realize I have zero credibility about this, but there are a lot of places kids under 4 years old shouldn't go on a regular basis. Church sanctuaries, restaurants, and movie theaters immediately come to mind.

 

I can agree on church sanctuaries and movie theaters not showing G movies targeting kids but restaurants? If anyone needs a meal out once in a while its parents with an infant. Crying children used to bother me too....before we had any. Now it brings back memories of my child years ago and doesn't bother me at all. I usually start smiling when I hear a baby cry.

 

As long as the children are behaving themselves I don't think there isn't anyplace they "shouldn't" go. It comes down to parents taking responsibility for their kids behavior. The one time I went to church with my son and he got restless, we left. But the other times, he's been very well behaved. He loves the music, and as long as he's not causing a disturbance, I don't see why anyone should be upset that he's there.

 

That's what MCDONALDS is for. I hate paying out big bucks for a meal and having to hear some bratty kid act up. If they don't act up FINE! They are welcome.
Remember being on a cruise ship having dinner in the fancy dining room, grandparents, mom dad and kids. Kids are acting up so grandpa takes them by the window to look out while they are screaming. I'm thinking YOU might think these kids are the greatest, but I'm sure the table by the window wishes you'd throw that kid overboard about now.
That's what the LIDO deck, where they serve pizze and burgers is for.
I love my grandkids but there are just some places they don't belong if they can't behave.
And don't even get me started on the screaming brats in Walmart.

 

Generally speaking, though, kids 3 and younger aren't capable of being civilized in an unfamiliar environment for more than about 20 minutes. At least, that's been my observation. But yeah -- if the kids are well behaved, of course I'd welcome them.

 

Which goes back to the fact that there are just places children't DON'T belong.