In Brookfield, Wis., no restaurant has triggered more calls to the police department since last year than Chuck E. Cheese's. Officers have been called to break up 12 fights, some of them physical, at the child-oriented pizza parlor since January 2007. The biggest broke out in April, when an uninvited adult disrupted a child's birthday party. Seven officers arrived and found as many as 40 people knocking over chairs and yelling in front of the restaurant's music stage, where a robotic singing chicken and the chain's namesake mouse perform.

I know nothing gets my blood boiling like being at Chuck E. Cheese. I know it's a place of fun for kids but that rarely happens. Kids screaming for more ice cream and coins, fighting over video games and the non stop singing by robotic mice. It's mayhem. I hate it. I like kids too. I really do. But like anything, too much is no good. And when all these kids are in one place, the noise is as irritating as the sound pulses they shoot at pirates. So am I surprised about the fights amongst parents? No way. Here is a rule of thumb for when you have kids. Take them to fun places, but make sure these places are outdoors at all times. If it's raining, take them to a damn movie.

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