I have no issue with
letting people know that their children are rude and repulsive if the sprog is acting out in a restaurant, for the simple reason that when my kids were little if they acted out in a restaurant they were immediately removed to the car. I spent a fair number of meals having to sit on the back bumper out of the kids' sight while they shrieked their little lungs out until they got it back under control- at which point I would bring them back in. And at no time did I ever take them out while they were in the stage of eating everything with grubby little fingers, and if their nose was running I cleaned it immediately as I got grossed out by it as well.

So if I can make them behave and can take steps when they don't, other parents had damned well better be able to manage it too. And if they give me any crap about it, I give them the above rant in a quiet and civilized voice, with the disapproving Dad Glare. Makes 'em shut up pretty fast...

And for the record, my kids now love going to restaurants and have similarly dim views of misbehaving kids. They're glad I taught them manners.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Mon 14 Apr 2008, 15:24, Reply)