Picture this: You and your spouse or significant other are looking forward to a quiet night together in an upscale restaurant to celebrate a special event. As the two of you sip your Cabernet waiting for your special entrees to arrive, you hear this earsplitting wail from a toddler several tables away.

Immediately, the mood is broken, and all attention focuses on the disruptive child. The parents try to calm the kid, but he is having none of it and continues to scream. After several attempts to settle the child, the parents give up, as the toddler continues to wail and scream “no, no, no.”

Your perfect evening is perfect no more. You try your best to carry on despite the disappointment.

I surmise that most of you have encountered such a scenario at one time or another, or perhaps you were the parents with the unruly child. What do you do in a case like this? If you are in the middle of your meal, do you just tough it out and hope for the best? Do you take turns watching the child in the lobby of the restaurant while the other finishes his or her meal? Do you ask your server to pack up the uneaten portion and beat it out of there as quickly as possible, trying not to make eye contact with judgmental diners?

A popular restaurant in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, has caused an uproar by announcing that it will no longer welcome children under the age of 10. Nettie’s House of Spaghetti is getting significant social media attention because of its decision; some of it is highly critical, while others are applauding the move and suggesting that all high-end restaurants adopt it. The restaurant is in Monmouth County, about a two-hour drive from Lehighton.

In its announcement on its Facebook page, the management said that it is making the change because of the unacceptable noise levels, but it also added, “Cleaning up crazy messes” are not worth the trouble.

I was thinking back to my early married life. Of course, we didn’t have a lot of expendable cash for nights on the town which included a meal at a swanky eating place, such as the former Fernwood resort near Bushkill, but when we did, we hired a neighborhood baby sitter.

Of course, on other occasions when we were visiting family in Summit Hill and decided to eat along the way at places such as Leiby’s in South Tamaqua or the Boulevard Drive-In along Route 443 near Lehighton, we had our three kids along.

We were always conscious about our children’s behavior, and I always had a talk with them before we entered a restaurant so they knew what was acceptable behavior and what was not.

As I recall, there was just one time when one of the kids became uncontrollable, so we got up and left so as not to interrupt the meals of fellow diners.

Getting back to Nettie’s House of Spaghetti, the management’s Facebook note explained that “We love kids, we really do, but, lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children.”

The note went on to say that “between noise levels, lack of space for high chairs, cleaning up crazy messes and the liability of kids running around the restaurant, we have decided that it’s time to take control of the situation.’’

The new rules go into effect Wednesday as the restaurant reopens from its winter break. The managers of the restaurant are realistic about the expected backlash, which was immediate.

“We know that this is going to make some of you very upset, especially those of you with well-behaved kids, but we believe this is the right decision for our business moving forward. Thank you for your understanding,” the post concluded.

I spoke to owners of restaurants throughout the five-county Times News region, and not one of them plans to go the route of Nettie’s House of Spaghetti. They want and need the business, so they are not about to give parents an excuse to stay away.

That said, I also spoke to servers who said they have noticed a decided change in the behavior of children when they are out to eat. “They are definitely out of control, and it seems as if many parents just don’t care,” one longtime server said.

I’ll be curious to see how the hospitality person at Nettie’s handles the age restriction. Will he or she be carding youngsters at the door? I can just see it now: An unaware family comes in with an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old. “The older kid can stay, but the younger one can’t come in.” I’d love to be present for the exchange that follows that announcement.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.