Bringing Kids to Beer Bars

I'm in NoVA also and I can't stand it when parents sit their underage kids at the bar. Regardless if there is other seats available or not, you do not sit underage kids on a bar stool or at any of the 'self seated' bar area tables (which are typically served by bartenders).

 

I don't think you should bring your kid to a bar at all even if you sit at a table. As a child who spent many days sitting at the bar with my mom while she drank I can say that I had fun while I was there but I would never do that with my daughter/future children.

 

70's style.

It was either that or have the kids come inside play pool, pinball, and load up on cokes and fries while mommy and daddy had adult time at the bar.

 

I've taken my grandson to my local Pub for lunch. I have a beer and he has a tea and whatever to eat. I would never do this say around happy hour or later though. He enjoys there infrequent outings, usually after a few hours at the park. I've seen other kids there as well, it really is a family place to eat, not a place where guys have their heads buried in their beers. We sit at the pub tables, I'd never ever let him belly up to the bar, that's not right IMO.

 

I personally wouldn't bring my kids to a bar. I've brought them to restaurant style brewpubs like Central City and Pizza Port for a meal, but wouldn't bring them to a bar. Drunk people can really suck and my kids don't need to see that bad side of alcohol just yet. The OP's stoller getting knocked over just reinforces that for me. Glad the kid wasn't in it!!

If you feel a bit strange about it, or even question if it's a good idea, it's probably not.

 

I love getting a good chuckle at 10 in the morning,Cheers and thanks

 

Some of you vehemently opposed to bringing kids into a "bar" are arguing against a giant strawman that you are setting up for yourselves. Not a single person in this very long thread has advocated taking their kids to anything approaching Road House at midnight.

If you can't get comfortable with parents taking their kids to a 5:30pm meal at a restaurant that serves good beer and provides a high chair, coloring book, crayons, and a kids menu - then you have some issues you probably need to work out for yourself. That's just how mainstream culture works in our society, and that is the type of bar that everybody supporting "taking kids to a bar" is talking about. Nobody's life ever fell apart because they ate an $8 grilled cheese with cloth napkins as a kid while mom and dad enjoyed a nice beer or two.

 

This is what I subscribe to.

A lot of my *favorite* places have both great beer lists and good food. That was the case BEFORE I had my son. So now, with kids, I just get there earlier and sit at a table to enjoy the beer list instead of later at night from the bar.

"Bars", without food? Daytime, during a slow period, for a quick visit. You gotta know the *place*, and have a good read on things. If it's slow, and especially if you frequent the place enough that you know the bartender and one or two of your fellow patrons by name? Why the hell not. If you're a cool guy, they probably like you, and will probably enjoy meeting the little tike. But visits like this should be short visits. One or two beers. In and out. As a little tike, my pappy often took me to the bar during slow summer afternoons. They're some of my fondest memories I have of my grandfather.


I don't go to bars where people smoke, with or without kids. If I wanted to taste smoke with my beer all I'd ever drink was Rauchbier.

 

This thread has been entertaining. I will say that it all depends on the situation and the venue. I've taken my son to brewery releases and to several special tappings. Generally, I probably wouldn't take him to a straight up beer only bar but it could happen (especially since we don't allow smoking here) and I'm not going to keep him up late just so I can grab a beer. However the last thing I'm going to do is judge someone else for taking their kid to a "bar". I'll take my kid to a restaurant serving good craft beer all day for a meal and a couple of beers for myself but we probably aren't going to be hanging out at midnight when the drunks show up.
As for taking your kids into the "bar" section of a restaurant and having them take up bar seats I think this is rude. Not for the patrons but for the bartenders. Your kids aren't ordering drinks so unless you are tipping the bar staff as if they were you shouldn't take up bar space.
When it comes to behavior I don't care what type of language/behavior you use but I do think most decent humans would try to minimize it when kids were around. And I think most decent parents in that situation would let the language/behavior slide given the venue. Pretty simple... try to act civil towards each other.

 

I really don't care one way or another as long as the kids aren't acting so bad it's interfering with my group. Personally I don't think kids should be in smoke-filled bars but if the parents are taking kids into a smoke-filled bar the kids are probably getting access to smoke in more places than the bar.

It seems like a bad place to take a kid for the kid's sake. Kids don't like to sit in the same place for hours. Being sober in a bar isn't that interesting.

 

If you bring your children to a bar(not restaurant) I am of the opinion that you are a terrible person and should be dragged out into the street and shot.

I've moonlighted as a bouncer at various quality levels of bars for 8-10 years now, and I've seen countless parents come in around 6:00 PM and order a pitcher or three, they let their kids run around the bar scream and carry on. I have kicked people out for this and I will continue to do so. There are parents who are mindful of their children, and they sit with their parents and behave in a reasonable fashion, these parents are in the minority. The place where I work on weekends has now banned children after 9:00 PM, and several bars and restaurants in the area have banned children all together.

This is my opinion; I don't have children and I don't know what it's like to have children alter what you do with your life and prevent you from doing the things you enjoy. I would like to also point out that I'm not telling you what YOU should do with your children, they are your kids and do with them as you wish, just know that some random person on the internet is judging you.

 

There's a difference in bars. Most places that are a little more trendy are very kid friendly. Bars aren't the dank dark places with guys huddled over there beers slurping Schlitz. Mellow Mushroom is a great example, just not at the BAR.

 

A bouncer with violent fantasies...that's a refreshing point of view. Lay off the 5 hour energy and take up yoga, maybe your fantasies about shooting people in the streets will subside slightly, maybe not.

I've gone to a bar with friends while I've been with my kid, having kids doesn't mean you can't be social or have a life...just try to be courteous to others while you are out. You wouldn't interfere with someone else's enjoyment at a bar when you didn't have a kid, having a kid with you doesn't change that situation at all.