Mum calls out 'low-class bogan' parenting after lazy act at Aussie cafe
The woman raged about the incident after learning what happened at her local spot – with the business owner telling Yahoo it left her 'extremely upset'.
An Aussie mum has called out parents who let their kids "run wild and trash" venues calling it "low-class bogan behaviour" after noticing a play area at one of her local cafes had been destroyed by unsupervised children.
The frustrated mum, named Millie, called on parents to take responsibility for their youngsters, even if there's a designated kids area at venues, saying it's not up to staff to watch them. The fiery rant was spurred by a recent experience at Sirens Bayside, a popular cafe in Townsville, Queensland.
The cafe's owner Natalie Giofre told Yahoo News Australia that while "98 per cent of customers are beautiful and do the right thing" this particular incident left her "extremely upset". It was a busy Friday morning two weeks ago when she walked outside to the courtyard and noticed "the kid's corner had been fully trashed".
"The door had been ripped off the cubby house, it was all jagged and nails were hanging out," she told Yahoo. "It was left in a dangerous state and no one had told me".
She later learned through other customers that two boys were responsible, with a mother apparently "doing nothing" to stop them.
But on the same day, another similar incident pushed her over the edge when a different young child allegedly began acting up. The 36-year-old claimed she watched him throw rocks and dump them in the cubby house, which had already been destroyed. However this time, she approached the mother.
"She was quite adamant and just said, 'Look, to be honest, I'm not here to have to worry about what my kids are doing while they're playing in the play area. I'm here to have a conversation with my friend and have a coffee. And if I have to worry about my kids breaking something or making a mess, then I'm just going to take them to the park'," Natalie recalled the woman telling her.
Cafe staff 'not running a daycare'
Natalie stressed, that while she wants mums and bubs to have fun, she does expect parents to monitor their kids at her establishment.
"For me, it's the parents' responsibility to supervise their kids and also to inform us when something does happen so we can come out and fix it. At the moment, my staff are having to supervise other people's children," she said.
“We're here to provide coffee and food and great service, we're not running a daycare centre. We're not here to make sure your kids are not trashing the yard or breaking things or misbehaving."
Mum defends cafe, calls out 'bogan behaviour'
Frustrated, Natalie detailed the incident on social media where loyal customer Millie learned what happened, prompting a rant of her own and calling on Aussie parents to be better than this.
"If you take your kids to a cafe that has a playground, and then you think that's automatic permission to just let your kids run feral and trash the place. You shouldn't be taking your kids to cafes," she said in the TikTok video.
"Everybody complains that Townsville has no nice cafes, no nice facilities, like Melbourne and Sydney. But then when a cafe owner goes out of their way to make their space nice to make it inviting to mums and bubs, this is what happens and it is absolutely heartbreaking".
The mum, who has a toddler of her own, ended by saying: "Quite frankly, it doesn't matter how expensive your activewear is if you're not going to parent your children, if you're going to let them trash public facilities so that none of us can use them, then that's just low-class bogan behaviour."
Aussies respond to 'bad parenting' claims
Others agreed the alleged behaviour was "unacceptable" with one saying: "Honestly the worst thing about parenting is other parents."
"Agree 100 per cent. I’m in Townsville too and so many times I have seen parents just let their kids destroy property and have no remorse. Also letting kids harass staff carrying hot food! It’s not safe," another lamented.
"Why do parents think it's okay to not actively supervise their children in a play area - blows my mind," another conceded.
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