Brynn writes:
It was brought to our attention this morning that Poulsbo’s Sogno di Vino restaurant has been making national news lately. Although it largely hasn’t been named beyond being called a “small restaurant in Poulsbo, Wash.”
As the story goes a picture of a receipt from an evening out at the restaurant has made its way to the Internet and as a result national news organizations jumped at the chance to opine about the story (see Fox News, Huffington Post, Reddit, Babble, et. all.)
A local woman, who goes by the name LauraInk on the Reddit site, wrote on her “beer after tea” blog about the dinning experience where she and her husband, along with their three children (ages 2, 3 and 8), received a “well-behaved child” discount. It sounds like this is the first time the restaurant has offered the $4 discount for well-behaved “mini diners”.
Here’s excerpts from Laura’s blog post explaining what happened and her response to all the national attention about the discount:
“We were seated at one of the last available tables around 6pm and were greeted happily with menus and bread. We sat and discussed planets, racecars, zebra jokes and “Freckle Juice” until we ate our pizzas, pasta and aforementioned ragu. The food was lovely, our oldest, who is clearly in a growth spurt, ate her share and mine, and our littles munched happily while periodically stopping to notice the small fireplace in the corner and the window paintings on the wall of grapevines in Italy.
Near the end of our meal, our server visits our table to tell us how impressed the staff was with our kids’ behavior and that many of them didn’t even realize we had little ones eating with us. She then brought us a bowl of ice cream to share. When we received our tab, it had a discount listed for “Well Behaved Kids”. A pleasant surprise after a lovely meal.
We, as parents, lead by example and if we have to spell out what and how we’re doing something, we will. We don’t expect handouts for acting respectful of the folks who bring us our food. But it certainly makes you feel good when someone else notices your kids in a positive light.
It’s interesting to read some of the comments from other people who have heard this story — note the link to the Reddit and Babble sites offer more adult language than wet use here — the responses are mixed on whether a family should get a discount because their kids behave well, or as some argue “the way they should”, when they’re in public.
Regardless of where you stand on the decision to give the discount, the bottom line is a local family of five was the recipient of an unexpected act of kindness from a local business. That’s something that should make you smile.
As far as the morons who think the kids should behave in public, and the parents dont deserve a discount,you are correct. unfortunately the possibility that parents plans are not what a three year old wants at the time, and shows his displeasure are very common. Instead of giving a discount to properly behaved kids, charge the parents of a terrible acting child. Lets see how quick these parents will either leave or teach their kids how to act in public. That does not mean beat them, but a little discipline goes a long ways. With all my kids(5 boys)I would not hesitate to take them into the bathroom for a talk or just go sit in the car and wait for our food to be boxed to go.
Children of a certain age behave in unexpected ways, no matter what type of skills their parents possess. Expecting a 2-3 year old to sit on pins and needles during any restaurant experience can be an frustrating task for the one doing the expecting. If a toddler acts well behaved during a public dining experience, chalk it up to a series of perfect storm type of events converging into a single snapshot of time. Unfortunately, a toddler will act how it wants, when it wants. For the parents, it is all a matter of how they respond. If you child has become a distraction, and the behaviour is unable to be corrected, box your food up and leave.
If your child is still acting a fool in a restaurant by the time they reach age 5 and 6, well that is definitely on the parents. Its too bad that parents aren’t self aware and humble enough to remove themselves from certain equations. Take-out and dining in is defintely an option!
I think this is a positive way to encourage both parents and children. I feel like as a society, we focus too much on the negative and are easily dismissive of the positive. Children are still learning how to manage their feelings (as well as some adults) and as annoying as it is to have your meal interupted by a noisy kid, this is just a part of life. Whenever my kids have been messy or loud at a resturaunt, I make sure to leave a very large tip. I think my children need to be in public places in order to learn how to behave in public, but I also think my server deserves a little extra for having to be a part of the lesson, lol.
What a great idea! Incentives and appreciation go a long way. Besides, this is one of my favorite restaurants. They like dogs, too.
I look at it a little differnt. Why should I be forced to put up with disruptive behavior because others chose not to either hire a sitter or have themselves seated in an area where THEY can manage the disruptions without spoiling other patrons dining. Makes no diffence to me if the child is 2 or 10.
When dining with my wife at a restraunt like say Anthony’s a premium is paid for the ambiance. What right do parents have destroying that for others? When my children were young they and most times we stayed home until proper behavior was assured.
This is all on the parents and a lack of consideration for others. Keep the uncontrolled children at home or in an area of the restraunt that they are not disruptive of others. It’s just common courtesy and it seems to be more lacking in today’s society.
This is a great place to eat and even better now that they have this policy! My sons are grown and now have a grandson and they were rewarded for their good behavior by repeat visits to ‘adult’ eating, it made them feel older! If not they were punished as needed! I have and will continue to positively comment/thank a family with young children that act very polite, we often forget to go that extra inch in todays busy world!
Great Story!