What would you do if your child was given an alcoholic drink at a restaurant by mistake?

I’m much too young to even have a kid, but if it were to happen, I would take matters up with the manager or who ever gave my kid the drink, then I would rush my child to the hopsital…just in case. ;)

That depends on what drink it was. And on how young the kid is. And whether the kid drank any of it before I notice.

I mean if they give a glass of Whiskey to a 3-year old and the kid actually drinks it, because it looked like apple juice, that is dangerous. So I’d call an ambulance and report the restaurant to police.

But then I wouldn’t call it a catastrophe if a kid of 10+ years accidentally took a small sip of wine and then says “Yuck! Mom, this isn’t grape juice!”. I’d just call the waiter and say, sorry, Sir/Ma’am, he/she didn’t order that.

Fortunately, most children will not like alcoholic drinks. Wine tastes sour to them, Beer is bitter. And any strong alcoholic beverages feel “burning” in the mouth. They’ll probably spit it out and start coughing as soon as they try the drink.

:D I still remember the first time I took a sip of beer, an uncle of mine told me it was chrysanthemum tea :D:D:D Did I die from alcoholism? No. I’m guessing it’s the same for any child who hasn’t hit puberty yet - alcohol just doesn’t hold the same kick it does for adolescents and adults for little kids.

I think it’s OTT for parents to say that “it is extremely dangerous for young children to drink alcohol” - I don’t see anything to suggest that this is the case unless it’s drunk in copious quantities. BUT that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t lodge a complaint - there’s no way someone would seriously mistake a small child for an adult. So if someone served a beer to my child (hypothetically) I’d still report it. But I wouldn’t get too hang up over it.

I will try to undestand the child that he don’t drink any type of liqued which smell like alcohal.

I would just send it back. No fussing, no cussing, quick, clean, and easy!

Complain and talk to their manager.

How do you accidentally give a child an alcoholic drink? Anyhow, I’d probably just send it back. The kid is highly unlikely to take more than a sip before spitting it out. Alcohol does not taste good. Even the fruity drinks have the alcohol burning sensation. Even more so for kids as they don’t drink.

Sounds like the Applebee’s report. The simple answer is sue and sue some more. Make sure the child is safe and then file lawsuits against the restaurant, the parent company, the waiter, the manager of the restaurant and the bartender and anyone else within 15 feet of the incident. Then you go to local and national news outlets and try to get yourself on TV news channels dropping the name of the restaurant and the outlandish negligent mistake they made. They will want to settle before you can say Apple Stroodle and demand nothing less than $10 million.

That seems a bit frivolous seeing as how the child is most likely not even harmed. Just imagine that there is a high probability of all of those employees you just mentioned losing their jobs, not to mention the restaurant losing its liquor license. It could be a simple mix up such as ordering a “virgin” drink that was lacking the virgin part. It is certainly not worth $10M.

Swap drinks with them because I probably would have been the one who ordered the alcoholic drink and if they got my drnk by mistake then I must have gotten theirs. ;)

Some one orders a rum and coke and a kid orders a coke, and they get mixed up. I could see that happening very easily. And speak for yourself. Alcohol tastes pretty damn good to me… lol…

Seriously, though you are right. Just send it back. Mistakes happen…

Unless the kid downed a huge drink (which I doubt would happen), there is not much danger that the child would be in from just a sip or two of the drink.

I agree, that would be ridiculous for a simple mistake. And there is no way anyone would get that kind of settlement. What would be the actual damages that would justify that kind of lawsuit?

I don’t think it would happen because the server mistook the child for an adult. I think it would happen because the server just gave the kid the wrong drink. A coke doesn’t look any different than a rum and coke.

I would think the toddler would probably have to die or suffer permanent damage in order to get that kind of money….I mean who would want to sacrifice their child for money? 0.0

don’t go the restaurant again unless you talk to them and say that they need to be more careful who they give alcohol too! and explain the child that the alcoholic drink wasn’t good for him/her, and that he/she shouldn’t drink it again until they’re older, if they make that decision. That was the kid will know that it is not okay and if he tastes it again, he won’t keep drinking because he/she knows he’ll get in trouble

Yes, but you can smell the rum a mile away. Or maybe I just have a sensitive nose. I generally know a dirty diaper is in the room before the mothers do.

Maybe you do have a more sensitive nose. lol. I am just saying I can see it being pretty easy not to notice. And if adults at the table had alcoholic drinks, you might think the smell was from an adult’s drink.

Point taken - still I think it’s OTT and a bit unfair on innocuous waiters.

I guess it depends on the situation. If the server just mixed up the drinks, and the kid only took a sip is one thing. But with the Applebee’s incident, it seems like the server gave a toddler a margarita in kids cup, and drank most of it. While the kid will be perfectly fine, the server responsible should be fired. I heard that servers use the kiddie cups for themselves sometimes, and someone poured themselves a margarita in one, and it was picked up by another server who thought it was juice for her table. Don’t know how true that is though.

i’d take it away and drink it myself