A UK cafe owner has caused quite a stir with a Facebook post addressing parents.
Kim Christofi — owner of South Kiosk in Felixtowe, located in Suffolk — warned that parents have exactly five minutes to intervene if their kid is throwing a tantrum. After that, a staff member will step in and talk to the child, Independent reports.
“Can we make ourselves perfectly clear to all parents who are too scared to discipline their children about tantrum screaming. We will give you five lenient minutes to ask the child to stop screaming and then we will ask the child ourselves. If that means you too having a tantrum about our having to speak to your child and hurling threats about not returning – that’s really okay with us. We have a duty of care to the rest of our customers.”Unsurprisingly, the post was met with hundreds of comments — many of which were from parents of young children.
“Having a tantrum is part of their development, the parents may be ignoring the child for a reason and I strongly suggest you get on with it,” one commenter replied.
“Why don’t you take a lenient five minutes to have a word with yourself for being hideously insensitive and condescending?” another said.
“Thank you for your kind and understanding post. I’ll make sure my family (including my autistic daughter) never darken your doorway,” yet another threatened.
Christofi has defended her message, saying, “We have a duty to all our customers and we are in a public place. We have never asked any family to leave and in all circumstances when the child is being ignored by the parents/carers, we try and calm the situation down by offering a drink and some colouring books and peace is resumed.” She also noted her cafe gives full support to parents of children with disabilities.
See, this is a tough one for me. As a mom of three kids — ages 4, 2 and an infant — I know first hand how ridiculous it is to suggest that by simply asking children to stop throwing a tantrum, they will comply. (Eye roll.) Right, like I haven’t tried that one before.
At the same time, I can see where this restaurant owner is coming from. Other people would like to enjoy their meal without having to endure prolonged wailing. I get it. But I think most parents wouldn’t put up with a full-out public tantrum for five minutes before intervening anyway. It’s just common courtesy.
Chirstofi could have avoided the negative attention by not venting such an inflammatory message on social media in the first place. In doing so, she alienated families with small children. And I wouldn’t be surprised if her business suffered as a result.
Featured photo via Thinkstock
What do think of this cafe owner’s Facebook post? How do you handle tantrums in a restaurant?
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