Eimear McGovern: Why my child is as entitled to be in a restaurant as you

Pic posed by model. Getty images.

Eimear McGovern

It was during that lull between starter and main course that my 19-month-old son began to get a bit restless. Squirming, he strained to get out of his high chair and no matter what we offered him — a rice cake, a toy or even a phone — nothing would satisfy him other than freedom.

And so I did what my parents used to do with my siblings and myself and what I have now become used to, I took him for a walk around the grounds of the restaurant and let him run and jump to his heart's content before we went back for our lunch.