AITA for yelling at a kid for crawling under my table at a restaurant?

A Redditor shares a frustrating experience at a local restaurant. While dining with a friend at a casual pizza place, the Redditor was bothered by a group of loud children running around and being disruptive. After ignoring the chaos for a while, a child crawled under their table, prompting the Redditor to snap and tell the child to “get away from our table.”

The child ran off in tears, and a parent from the group confronted the Redditor, accusing them of being mean. The Redditor defended their actions, but the parent called them an asshole before walking away. Read the original story below to see how the situation escalated.

‘ AITA for yelling at a kid for crawling under my table at a restaurant?’

My friend Jack and I after a long stressful week like to go to the local pizza place. It’s not fine dining by any stretch of the imagination but there are booths and tables of people sitting down. I see a large table near us of like 10 people a few couples and bunch of small kids between like 4 and 8, and the kids are running around the restaurant being loud while the adults are drinking wine and eating their pizza.

I ignore the commotion for like 20 minutes when suddenly, I feel like a hand on my leg and one of the little kids is crawling under Jack and my table, I wasn’t thinking and snapped at the kid, and said “Get away from our table!” and the kid ran away and burst into tears.

One of the parents at the other table came over and started tearing into me about “how cranky and mean i was and how dare I yell at her kid, who was just playing” meanwhile her and the other middle aged forty something parents are letting their kids run amok and be loud and obnoxious while my friend and I are trying to enjoy a night out.

I ripped her a new one and said “How entitled do you need to be to think it’s ok to let your kids just crawl under other people’s tables?” She called me an a**hole and walked away in a huff.

See what others had to share with OP:

SatisfactoryLoaf −  NTA. Her exhaustion / boundaries / parental philosophy create no obligations for you. Your personal space was invaded, you reacted to repair that.

Narkareth −  NTA. You are not a jungle gym, and your table is not a play place.

Lovebeingadad54321 −  Look at my username, now, I am going to say you are NTA. People should not let their kids be crawling around on the floor under their OWN table, nonetheless someone else’s!!!

KingdomKey10 −  NTA. People who don’t scold their kids shouldn’t be surprised when their kids get scolded by strangers, especially if they are just letting their kids go around and invade people’s personal space. you didn’t do anything wrong and the mom and all the rest of those parents are all major AHs

mutualbuttsqueezin −  NTA. Someone’s gotta teach the kid they can’t do whatever the f**k they want, and it apparently won’t be their parents. Invading a stranger’s personal space and touching them is a big enough deal to warrant being told off immediately and harshly.

PewPewBiscuits −  On behalf of all restaurant workers everywhere, thank you for yelling at the mom. (It’s been years since I worked in a restaurant, but the rage from watching people let their kids run around unsupervised never really goes away.). NTA

United-Loss4914 −  NTA – her child is not entitled to invade your personal space and physically touch your person any more than you would be entitled to do the same. She needs to get a grip. She didn’t want her kid yelled at she should’ve been parenting her own child.

[Reddit User] −  NTA you are a stranger to that kid. The kid should not have been going under random tables and the parents obviously weren’t watching the child. He also could have been hurt under your table.

Royal_Case_4776 −  NTA If you don’t want strangers shouting at your kids, don’t let them climb under strangers tables. These parents baffle me. It only takes one c**ep to decide to leave the restaurant with your kid, or someone to accidentally kick them and cause them injury. I like kids so much i made my own, but that doesn’t mean i want someone elses, or even mine for that matter, climbing about under the table whilst im trying to eat.

JeepersCreepers74 −  NTA. If she has opinions on how strangers are allowed to interact with her kids, she shouldn’t have allowed her kids to run around and interact with strangers.

Do you think the Redditor was justified in snapping at the child, or did they overreact in the moment? How would you have handled the situation if you were in their shoes, trying to enjoy a peaceful meal? Share your thoughts below!