A cafe owner has defended himself after coming under fire from an angry mum who accused him of shaming her on a Facebook post.
Kate Raine took her two-year-old son to the new Tyme Coffee Lounge in Glossop to meet some friends on Wednesday.
But her young son ended up having full blown tantrum because he wanted a cake - and not the toastie she had bought for him.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Tyme Coffee Lounge owner Shaun Donohoe said:
Most parents keep control of their children. We do want mums and dads to come to the cafe, but when your child kicks off and screams or shouts the house down then you should take control of your child.
It's not fair to other people who come in to the cafe and just want a quiet time.
Surely it's better to take the child away from everyone looking at you.
But Kate was then alerted to a post on the company’s Facebook page, which she knew was aimed at her.
It said:
We would like to make a comment about the behaviour of some small children today.
We appreciate that mums come along and bring their children, we do ask that the mothers respect the other clients in the coffee lounge and when their children are screeching and screaming and having tantrums, we would ask the mothers of these children to take them outside till they can behave.
There are other clients who come for a peaceful relaxing time over tea/coffee and probably a light snack. They do not want to listen to unruly screaming children whose parents cannot keep them under control.
We send our apologies to those customers who came to Tyme Lounge this morning and had to put up with the screeching and screaming of the children.
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Tyme Coffee Lounge's Facebook post When the comments were met with a negative response from other mums the post was removed.
In her response to the cafe, mum-of-one Kate said:
I don’t know whether I am more angry, upset or embarrassed but what I do know is I am in floods of tears.
I decided to try out your establishment with some friends that I hadn’t seen for while. I am very sorry you were annoyed by my son behaving like a typical two-year-old, but I am afraid he is a typical two-year-old.
If it was really such a problem a polite word would have been appreciated, instead of making not so subtle comments to your staff about how terrible screeching children are, some horrible looks and then posting this.
Out of the group of us my child was probably the most unruly and recognising your deeply unwelcoming feeling, I left your establishment and my friends behind.
I would like to say your food was delicious and the women serving behind the till were polite, friendly and welcoming. However, you have left me feeling deeply upset, embarrassed and like a terrible mother.
Cafe owner Shaun Donohoe said that while his co-partner and business manager should not have made the comment on Facebook, he agreed with what he said.
Shaun said:
The screaming and screeching was so bad that we had three people walk out saying they weren’t putting up with that racket.
The parents we had in just seemed to let the children do what they want, they were screaming and screeching and the parents just sat there. They should be able to control them and be considerate to other people.
If it was my children I would take them outside and explain how they need to behave.
One of them was on the floor rolling and screaming and when we’ve got people walking around with hot drinks it’s dangerous.”
He added: “We love children and we want families to come in but children have to be controlled.
I’m totally shocked by the comments from some of the mums and it’s all gone a bit overboard. Many of those commenting weren’t there to witness what happened.
They have taken our message totally wrong. It was not our intention to upset anybody. We welcome families and we want children here but people must be considerate of their surroundings and who else is there. Now if that’s wrong then shoot me.
