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Babies in Bars

B

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 8, 2008
4,610
3,041
Manhattan
I live in the neighborhood in question, Park Slope Brooklyn -- and over the past 10 years or so it has become filled with children which is fine except those kids are starting to be brought to traditionally adult only places. The hipsters that moved in over that past decade have grown up and had kids and some of them have a very different idea about what it is to be a parent than previous generations it seems.

Now it appears many young parents don't want to give up the bar scene and bring their infants with them while having a beer. I think that's kind of irresponsible personally. Not only that, but bars are *adult* places where once doesn't have to watch your language or step over a stroller on the way to the bathroom. What do you think? Is this happening in other areas?


Link:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/02/brooklyn.babies.in.bars/index.html?hpt=C2
 
I agree. Children do not belong in bars. If a restaurant has a bar then children should not be there either. Up until this year I'd also see children sitting in the bar-area eating while their parents smoked. It disturbs me to no end to see that.

I do know that where I used to go have a burger and beer on Sundays (Islands a hamburger joint), they allowed children in the bar area. It bothered me but their rule was they can sit at a table in the bar but not at the actual bar. /shrug
 
I recall reading somewhere that certain bars had family nights where children can be brought to both cater to this crowd and also to their regulars.
 
jessica. said:
I agree. Children do not belong in bars. If a restaurant has a bar then children should not be there either. Up until this year I'd also see children sitting in the bar-area eating while their parents smoked. It disturbs me to no end to see that.

I do know that where I used to go have a burger and beer on Sundays (Islands a hamburger joint), they allowed children in the bar area. It bothered me but their rule was they can sit at a table in the bar but not at the actual bar. /shrug
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+1 for Islands.

I don't really have a problem with kids in the bar area of a restaurant during the day, but once happy hour kicks in, they should be banned.
 
There is already a place in Park Slope called "The Tea Lounge" which is an odd kind of coffee shop. They serve muffins, sandwiches, hot cocoa and is almost exactly like a normal coffe shop--except there is a full bar as well. The last time I went, there was actually a large group of children in the place who were being told a story. I guess I don't have a problem with kids being brought there--though I'm not keen on parents drinking while caring for small children/infants in public. It seems like the type of situation where a father gets so drunk he forgets he brought his kid and stumbles home without him--or worse.

It's just that the parents in Park Slope seem to be getting very entitled -- in that every public establishment must be made appropriate for their children or be closed.
 
Babies in Bars?

In Minneapolis, I have never seen a baby in a bar. Granted, I have never been in a bar before 7-8pm, I have not seen any.

That being said, it is a parent's right to bring their child where they want, just as it is a bar owners right to allow whoever they want in their bar.

Bad taste: Yes

Bad parenting: Yes

Acceptable: Yes
 
Surely said:
Even IHOP?:D
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I said restaurant, not places with 'those people'. :D

The Times had a piece on this last month.


No matter what breeders might think, bars are not family-friendly. If I am out drinking and sobbing about a bad breakup, I don’t want my cries to compete with those of an infant sitting next to me. If I go to the bathroom to correct my wayward mascara at the end of a long weekend night, I don’t want to watch a baby being wiped down on the soggy sink counter.
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Bringing kids who have to be fed/entertained/whatever into the bar is pretty inappropriate and not something I see very often. I don't really go to places like chilis that do the family restaurant / bar combo thing though, mostly just actual pubs and bars where parent and kid would be asked to leave. I do notice babies at the bar, usually the kind you wear, and that's just weird. Indoor smoking has been banned here so that's not the issue, I just don't think people should be towing their kids around when they go drinking. It's up there with babies at rock concerts.

It could be worse though. One of my local neighborhood pubs is an outstanding place, like the nicest pub in town, except for the fact that the owner likes dogs, which translates to everyone in the neighborhood with a dog brings their dog to the frickin bar. It's like having, well, a lot of dogs in a bar. Some dogs just sit there but you also get the dogowners who see dogs in the bar so they want to bring their dog too because How Cute Is That, despite the dog never having been in a bar before or that it doesn't really do very well around other dogs anyway, so you get dogs that bark for no reason, dogs fighting or playing or whatever, milling about the bar area having to be stepped over, the dogowners treat the place like a dogpark and think their precious animal child is the greatest thing ever all the while the staff is worried about upsetting the hordes of dogowners so they do absolutely nothing about it, ever. It's such a dog spot that sometimes I'll be knocking some balls around the billiards table and see a single dogowner come in with a dog, walk around checking to see if other dogs are there, and if there are none they leave. Like it's not worth their time to drink there if they aren't around a pack of dogs. WTF.
 
alcoholic_baby-12020.jpg


Not cool.
 
Don't get me started....friggin' babies (and young kids) in bars, nice restaurants, movie theaters....ugh. I'm not saying that parents don't have the right to go out, but hire a sitter. Please.
 
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