Faith Facts

• A growing number of restaurants across America are implementing adults-only policies, reflecting broader cultural concerns about child behavior in public spaces.
• The trend appears connected to declining parental authority and reluctance to teach children about respecting others in shared spaces.
• Christian values traditionally emphasize training children in godliness and respect, a practice that seems increasingly absent in modern American culture.

A cultural shift is underway in American dining, and it has less to do with animosity toward children than frustration with the breakdown of traditional parenting. More restaurants are establishing adults-only policies, and the reasons point to deeper societal problems.

The movement reflects what many Americans are experiencing firsthand: a culture where fewer adults are willing to teach children that other people matter too. This isn’t about hating kids—it’s about exhaustion with a permissive culture that has abandoned time-tested principles of child-rearing.

For generations, American families understood that teaching children to behave respectfully in public was a parental duty. Scripture instructs parents to “train up a child in the way he should go,” a mandate that includes teaching consideration for others. When parents abdicate this responsibility, everyone suffers the consequences.

The restaurant industry is simply responding to what customers are demanding: peaceful dining experiences without the disruption that comes from uncontrolled children. Business owners have a right—and arguably a responsibility—to create environments their paying customers want.

This trend highlights a broader cultural problem. When society stops expecting parents to parent, chaos fills the vacuum. The permissive approach to child-rearing that became fashionable in recent decades has produced a generation that struggles with boundaries, respect, and self-control.

Traditional American values emphasized that children need structure, discipline, and clear expectations. Parents who refuse to set boundaries aren’t doing their children any favors. They’re failing to prepare them for a world that won’t coddle them indefinitely.

The adults-only restaurant movement may seem like a small cultural footnote, but it reveals something significant. Americans are tired of a society that prioritizes individual desires over communal responsibility. They’re tired of parents who refuse to teach their children basic manners.

This isn’t nostalgia for a bygone era—it’s a recognition that some traditional practices existed for good reasons. Teaching children to respect others, control their impulses, and behave appropriately in public spaces benefits everyone, including the children themselves.

Restaurant owners implementing these policies aren’t the villains. They’re business people responding to legitimate customer concerns. The real question is why so many parents have abandoned their duty to raise well-behaved, considerate children.

Christian families have always understood that raising godly children requires effort, consistency, and sometimes uncomfortable moments of correction. The modern reluctance to discipline and direct children conflicts with biblical wisdom that has guided families for millennia.

The solution isn’t to segregate society into adult and child zones indefinitely. It’s to return to proven principles of parenting that produce children capable of functioning respectfully in all settings. That requires adults willing to do the hard work of actually parenting.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Faith Facts

• Joni Lamb sold three homes and placed four properties in a trust during her final year to prepare for her passing
• The Christian broadcaster structured her estate to bypass probate and ensure smooth asset distribution to her heirs
• Lamb’s careful planning reflects the biblical principle of responsible stewardship and preparing one’s house in order

Joni Lamb, the beloved co-founder of Daystar Television Network, spent her final year on earth making careful preparations for her family’s future. In a display of faithful stewardship, she took deliberate steps to ensure her earthly affairs were in order before entering eternity.

During her last year of life, Lamb sold three homes and strategically placed four properties into a trust. This thoughtful estate planning allowed her assets to be distributed to her heirs without the complications and delays of probate court, demonstrating wisdom and care for those she would leave behind.

The Christian broadcaster’s actions reflect biblical principles found throughout Scripture about preparing one’s house and being a faithful steward of the resources God provides. Her careful planning ensured that her family would not face unnecessary legal burdens during their time of grief.

Lamb’s legacy extends far beyond her financial planning. Along with her late husband Marcus Lamb, she built Daystar into the world’s second-largest Christian television network, reaching millions of viewers with the Gospel message. Her faithful service to Christian broadcasting impacted countless lives around the globe.

The trust structure she established represents responsible Christian stewardship, allowing for orderly distribution of assets while avoiding the public nature and expense of probate proceedings. This approach has become increasingly common among Christians who wish to ensure their earthly possessions serve their family’s needs efficiently.

Her final acts of preparation serve as a reminder to all believers of the importance of putting temporal affairs in order while maintaining focus on eternal matters. Scripture reminds us that a wise person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, and Lamb embodied this principle through her careful planning.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Faith Facts

• A Texas high school senior named Angie Gallegos found a forgotten purse at a Rangers game and tracked down the owner via Facebook
• Despite concerns from family and friends, the owner met Gallegos at a QuikTrip where everything was returned intact
• The young woman wore a St. Jude medallion and simply said she “wanted to do the right thing”

ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees, and Bobby Ross Jr. and I had met in Arlington to see it happen. Maybe that’s why I left my purse in the seat beside me when the game ended.

Absentminded joy. Said joy morphed into panic after I exited Globe Life Field and realized my bag was not on my shoulder.

That would be the bag with my wallet, my ID, my credit and debit cards, a couple of prescriptions and some much-loved and really expensive prescription sunglasses. And my car fob.

Yes, I had a spare — at home in Abilene, 165 miles away. Yes, I went back inside the stadium to look for the purse, checked with lost and found and file a loss report.

Yes, I immediately put a hold on the cards, berated myself repeatedly and was reallllly nice to Bobby, who was well on his way to Dallas when he had to return to Arlington to get me. Though editors generally have earned their gruff, green eyeshade reputation, he did not complain.

Because Bobby is a Rangers fan. The Rangers had just beaten the Yankees. No forgetful freelancer could diminish his joy.

And he’s a really good friend. The game was a side benefit to the real reason for the trip: The Christian Chronicle Board of Trustees retreat beginning the next morning, making Bobby’s patience that much more impressive.

So while he drove, I messaged my text groups: my family, the group euphemistically called “The Girls,” and HWC (as in “Hello, Win Column”), composed of six women who are ardent Rangers fans. Advice began pouring in.

At one point, I actually was booking a roundtrip flight to Abilene using American Airlines miles to pick up the key fob. Then Bobby reminded me I had no ID. I couldn’t get on a plane.

So friends in Abilene contrived a plan to retrieve the extra fob from my kitchen drawer and FedEx it to me. I have great friends.

Still, this meant the car would be unattended, in an Arlington parking lot for two days. A kind Arlington police officer couldn’t promise my vehicle wouldn’t be towed, but he didn’t expect that to happen. That was consoling. Sort of.

For those unfamiliar with the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, it’s really big. As in 16,000 square miles.

As in 8.3 million people, one of whom was probably trying on my sunglasses at that very moment. Globe Life Field in Arlington is roughly in the middle of it.

The hotel where Chronicle staff and board were staying was 27 miles east of there. That’s where we were when my phone buzzed alerting me to a Facebook message from my new best friend, Angie Gallegos.

The lack of punctuation tipped me off that the sender was probably young. I didn’t care. She had found the purse and waited for someone to return.

When no one came, she took it with her and found me on Facebook. Who needs commas?

“I didn’t want it to go in the wrong hands, so I’m reaching out to let you know I have your bag!”

I asked where we could meet, and she sent me a link for a QuikTrip some 21 miles east of our hotel. I told her we could be there in 30 minutes.

While Bobby drove some more, I updated the text groups whose faith in humanity was not exactly devout.

“If the QuikTrip is sketchy call police to be nearby,” replied my attorney friend, Jane, just seconds after I had told Bobby, “Jane would probably call the police to meet her there.”

“Don’t go by yourself,” said my son.

We arrived at the QuikTrip, next door to a funeral home. A nice neighborhood.

Lots of customers around. I messaged Angie to alert her that we had arrived, and she said she’d be there in five minutes.

My daughter texted after seven minutes to check on me. In defense of my friends and family, I had agreed to meet a total stranger at a gas station.

But Angie Gallegos was no sketchy stranger. The high school senior was still grinning from the Rangers’ win when she walked up with my purse.

We chatted. I took a selfie. I asked her about the medallion on the gold chain she wore with her Rangers T-shirt — St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.

That seemed appropriate — for a Rangers fan and a retriever of lost purses. I told her I’d send her a reward, which she assured me wasn’t necessary.

“I just wanted to do the right thing.”

I sent one anyway. As Bobby navigated through a full-stop traffic jam that involved 11 police cars and no apparent cause, the text groups celebrated, more than one commenting that their faith in humanity was restored, a much-needed restoration.

My children were even a tad sarcastic. I don’t know where they get that.

“Did you offer to write her scholarship, job and college recommendation letters?” my daughter asked. I should do that.

I don’t know much more about Angie, but she made my life a whole lot better because she just wanted to do the right thing. That’s a great recommendation for all of us.

Let us know what you think, please share your thoughts in the comments below.