Former BBC newsreader Jan Leeming has backtracked after saying children should be “trained like a dog” amid a Kent restaurant row.
The 84-year-old sparked national debate this week after complaining on X that lunch at The Pig at Bridge Place, near Canterbury, was “slightly spoiled by a screaming child”.
Jan Leeming, left, pictured at a community fun day, told Times Radio children should be trained like dogs – before backtracking on the comment
The post led to fury and support in equal measure and led a Kent mum to believe the comments were aimed at her family after they visited the venue to celebrate a birthday.
Speaking on Times Radio on Saturday, Ms Leeming said children should be treated “like a dog” and trained to be socially acceptable in public.
She said: “Many of them are just allowed to run riot. You see children with their feet on chairs that people have got to sit on.
“And, my goodness, if you give a sort of dirty or disapproving look, you know, you are the one who’s in the wrong.
“I hope this is not taken the wrong way – but, like an animal, like a dog, you train it to be socially acceptable.”
The Pig at Bridge, a luxury hotel near Canterbury
She also said too many parents treat their children “like little princes and princesses” and suggested restaurants should consider banning children under the age of four.
Ms Leeming compared children’s behaviour to that of her own dogs, saying she never took René, her papillon who died last year aged 14, to cafés or restaurants because the dog was a “barker”.
“But the other little one [DiDee, 8] is a poppet. She comes with me on a Saturday morning … to a lovely little coffee shop in Deal,” she said.
However, this morning, Ms Leeming appeared to row back on her remarks, saying her comments had been misunderstood.
Posting on X, she wrote: “Oh dear! Trouble again. Should have kept to my vow of not giving oral interviews. Wanting to correct all inaccuracies, spoke with Rod Liddle on Times Radio. But something I said with a laugh has been taken seriously as a headline – it’s horrid. My fault – engage brain before mouth.
“What I should have said was ‘Children should be trained to be socially acceptable before they are let loose on the public. But I referenced training dogs!!! Now there will be more flack. Wish I’d never said a word about the lunch.”
Earlier this week, Canterbury mum Alex Edwards, 35, hit back at Ms Leeming’s original comments, saying children learn how to behave by being included in social settings.
Alex Edwards, from Canterbury, says the experience has not put her off dining with her children. Picture: Alex Edwards
Mrs Edwards believed the original social media post referred to her family after details in national coverage felt “uncomfortably familiar”.
She told KentOnline: “Children learn social behaviour by being in social settings.
“Etiquette isn’t something children are born knowing – they learn by being included.”
Ms Leeming has previously insisted the family mentioned in the Daily Mail was not the one she had complained about, saying: “They had one tot having a tantrum.”
Almost 80% of people voting in a KentOnline poll said they agreed with Ms Leeming’s comments about “screaming” children in restaurants.
A spokesperson for The Pig at Bridge Place said: “Everyone is welcome at The Pig at Bridge Place – and we go to great lengths to ensure that all of our guests (young and old) are looked after by our wonderful team.”