New Jersey restaurant makes the decision to ban kids under 10 from eating there

Now here’s a hot-button issue if there ever was one— a New Jersey restaurant bans kids under 10 years of age, making headlines for their decision. While many people agree with the restaurant’s choice, others feel it’s a way of shunning kids from society.

In a Facebook post last week, Nettie’s House of Spaghetti shared that it’s become “extremely challenging” to accommodate child patrons. So unless your kiddo is a well-behaved child of 10 or older, they’re no longer welcome at Nettie’s.

“We love kids. We really, truly, do,” the post begins. “But lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children at Nettie’s.”

“Between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes, and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation.”

Personally, I can see both sides of this issue. As a former server and bartender, I can tell you that one of the most frustrating, annoying things about that job (aside from anyone tipping less than 20%) was when kids would be running around like crazy while we were carrying heavy food and drink trays. I am of the “we have to teach kids to adapt to the world, because the world isn’t going to adapt for our kids” school when it comes to educating children on how to abide by the social contract. (However, when it comes to accommodating disabilities, this country has a long way to go, and can and should do better—so this is not a commentary on that.)

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But as someone who has also traveled abroad enough times, I think this whole thing is a uniquely American problem. Because if you go literally anywhere else, children are in every pub and restaurant under the sun without a single person batting an eye. It’s part of European culture from the get-go, and they typically know how to behave. And even if they aren’t perfectly in line (because kids aren’t robots), their presence is accepted and not abhorred. In Ireland, for example, it’s not out of the ordinary for a family of five to enjoy live music at the local pub until 10 p.m. while kids from ages 1-12 enjoy their fish and chips while dancing along. Similar scenarios can also be found in Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, based on my experience. Children are brought into the fold to experience joy, not excluded from it.

It’s kind of like people hating the whole crying-babies-on-airplanes thing. That’s an American gripe, full stop.

Related: Going out to eat with kids gets easier—even if it doesn’t seem like it right now

That being said, NO, your children should not feel empowered to run around a restaurant ever, unless it’s an establishment owned by Charles Entertainment Cheese. It’s not safe for them, and it’s certainly not safe for the staff working at the restaurant.

“This wasn’t a decision that was made lightly, but some recent events have pushed us to implement this new policy,” Nettie’s continued in their post. “As of March 8, the day we return from our winter break, we will no longer allow children under 10 to dine in the restaurant. We know that this is going to make some of you very upset, especially those of you with very well-behaved kids, but we believe this is the right decision for our business moving forward.”

A lot of people were supportive in the comments section, with many acknowledging the safety issue. A lot of other people centered themselves in the scenario, lamenting how much children ruin their own personal dining experiences, etc. (Listen, if you can’t enjoy a nice filet and cabernet with your date because little Timmy two tables over is watching Blippi on his dad’s phone, that’s a you-problem.)

Regardless of how you feel about this decision and others like it, it’s clear Nettie’s didn’t come to this decision easily.

“It’s become a liability to us—kids running around the restaurant in circles when we’re trying to carry trays of food and drinks has made doing our jobs extremely difficult,” Nettie’s wrote in a follow-up comment.