Via kottke, an argument against children’s menus in restaurants:
Nicola Marzovilla runs a business, so when a client at his Gramercy Park restaurant, I Trulli, asks for a children’s menu, he does not say what he really thinks. What he says is, “I’m sure we can find something on the menu your child will like.” What he thinks is, “Children’s menus are the death of civilization.”
I would guess that many parents would appreciate the removal of the child’s menus even if they aren’t worried about its implications for the fate of civilization. At home the kids know what’s in the pantry and if one of the parents is not prepared to make the children starve, they quickly learn to gag and choke on the fava beans to get to the mac-n-cheese (organic!)
If the restaurant has no children’s menu then this strategy is cut from the feasible set. The parents are effectively committed to make the child starve if she tries it. With that commitment in place, the child’s best response is to find something on the menu she will like and eat it.
Cheap Talk 
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May 25, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Morgan Warstler
This is of course ridiculous. Children’s menus are required for any three year old with their own brain, and any parent who wants to enjoy their own meal.
Meanwhile, if your 11 year old can’t order off the adult menu, you don’t want a NYT article to tell you you’re ok as a parent.
And there’s no Octopus in my heritage, and I’m not going to force my vegetarian kid to eat hamburgers because it is where I come from… though I will mourn for her ignorant sacrifice.
The customer is always right. That’s the strategy.
May 26, 2010 at 2:25 am
Assorted Links today | Statistical Insignificance
[…] Links today Posted on May 26, 2010 by Sharath Rao Kids’ strategies. It is nowhere near time for my to worried about raising kids but I found this bit amusing and to […]
May 26, 2010 at 11:31 am
tgrass
The real reason a restaurateur wants to do away with the children’s menu:
Ten Hour Braised Short Ribs…$35
10 Min fried Chicken Fingers…$6
May 26, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Sean
Grass, there is a reason those restaurants offer the cheap kid meals: selection. Some parents will choose a restaurant that offers kids meals because those meals are typically cheap and come with crayons. The kids meal is a loss-leader to get adults into the restaurant. What is interesting is that there’s few restaurants with “fancy” kid meals. A restaurant could offer cheap, kid-size portions of “adult” dinners (with crayons!), but few do. I guess this implies that price-sensitive parents tend not to impose high-brow tastes on their kids, even if they are themselves eating very “adult” food.
May 26, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Start Manifesting and Stop Begging | Rediscover The Law of Attraction
[…] Strategy and the Child's Menu « Cheap Talk […]
May 27, 2010 at 9:39 am
Anshu
My kids would go for “cheap, kid-size portions of “adult” dinners (with crayons!)”, but I also find them a rarity. Instead, we often order from the adult menu and specify to the server to split the meal for our two boys. This way they get a high-quality meal that they enjoy and its still cost-effective.
June 4, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Kelvin
“With that commitment in place, the child’s best response is to find something on the menu she will like and eat it.”
I’m actually inclined to do the math for an infinitely repeating two-stage game of restaurant choice and then the child choosing whether to ruin the parents’ experience by throwing a tantrum.