Bars: kid friendly or adults only?

No. However if food is served and it's before sunset. It might be okay. But primarily no. If you want to drink beer in front of your kids, you can do it at home and control the environment.

 

Absolutely ADULTS only!!!

 

The only kind to have.

 

I remember being 17 and going to The Pickwick, getting a couple cheeseburgers done on a flat grill, having several tall Blatz drafts in a big soda glass, unknowingly walking into an Allman Brothers at The End Zone next door. Sometimes things just work perfectly!

 

If I am ever in a position to decide who is and who isn't allowed in a beer place, the sign in the door will say "Grumpy old misanthropes are not welcome here".

I would rather have families with rambunctious kids than a bunch of grumpy old whiners.

 

Two fun stories I'll tell, but as a single guy with no kids, I'd rather not.

So out for drinks with some co workers and we went to a restaurant with a very nice beer selection for the area and well we behave rather badly when we go out, (I'm actually the only one of that group who hasn't been fired so maybe that's a sign). Anyway only one of the guys was married and he just looks at the rest of us and just blurts out "Can you please go to a place without a "darn" kids menu, I've got them at home last thing i want is to see kids that aren't mine when I'm relaxing".

Fast forward a few months, same place with a few different co workers (one even still has a job with us). Our guy with the job has had a rough day and he's pretty darn past sober. Anyway there's this truly beautiful girl who's likely between 16 and 19 with her parents and boy friend. He under his breath said something about how if he wanted he could have his way with her which was heard by her and the boyfriend. That was a less than ideal ending to the night.

Bottom line 21 and up is always best when people are going to be potentially be getting drunk. Sure you don't fix all the problems, drunks are after all always problems, but at least you don't expose kids to that level of stupidity. There is a time and a place for that, and it's college!

 

Who wants to hear crying or complaining kids when they're out trying to relax and have fun?

 

I find that most brewpubs are kid friendly, so if my kids go to any type of bar/pub, we go there. If your kids act up, you should get the food to go. That being said, some adults are just as annoying.

 

This question is silly mostly because you simply categorize the establishment as neighborhood pub. But that is not one kind of place. Some pubs are clearly adult only, some are fine for kids. It is not a question that can be answered categorically. It depends on the place. Is it an adults only place or a kids friendly place?

 

When I lived in PA I never saw kids in a bar, but in the midwest it is a common occurrence. I have seen babies, small children, various animals.

 

America does tend to infantilize children more than other countries.

It isn't the children themselves I object to in a bar so much as the accompanying parents who might object to the use of vulgar language and who would get all litigious if the child running around underfoot should, in his or her normally unpunished recklessness, acquire a boo-boo.

 

Or... there are lots of ways to answer this question since there are so many types of bars.

 

I have no problem with either as long as they are reasonably well behaved...

 

If they don't mind me cussing around their stupid kid then yes.

 

Can I drink beer at my kids day care? Then no. Lol

 

There are places where I still would not take my "kids" and they are 27 and 25 years old...just sayin'... It was cool and at the same time shocking when my kids first asked if they could have alcohol when we go out for dinner - and my son is a fledgling beer geek who has managed two package stores.

That said, it was always a common sense filter for us when they were younger - not that we were ever big on just going out to a bar to drink in the first place. If an establishment looked "inappropriate" for kids, we went somewhere else. No big deal. Our kids generally went everywhere with us and on the rare occasion when they acted up/out for whatever reason, we would not allow them to ruin someone else's experience - and it didn't matter where we were. Our kids learned to behave in public situations of all sorts and it took a little extra effort and consistency on our part as parents, as well as choosing appropriate settings. We "ramped up" as they got older. We didn't feel as though we needed to "shelter" them any - it was just common sense as we saw it.

I believe the responsibility lies more with the parents than the kids. Letting kids be kids doesn't mean letting them run about like wild animals - they have to learn how to behave in different situations in society and that direction comes from us. The only way to do that is through exposure, but if you are gonna bring 'em, then teach 'em, I guess is the point.

I remember going to the bowling alley on league nights with my Dad when I was in grade school, but I didn't run about the joint like a hoodlum either. I learned how to bowl (free practice before league started) and keep score, and I learned what was acceptable behavior in that situation. (So when I was old enough and could join the team, I knew how to crush Miller High Life and not be an asshole, still hit the second arrow after the fifth round, and could manage my handicap to the benefit of the team ) Seriously, I think I was thirty before I drank beer while bowling with Dad.

 

Um, isn't it the law, at least here in the US, that kids can't be in a bar?

 

Odd. I lived in the Philly area for five plus years and I never once came upon a "true bar" (serves alcohol, but no food) and was under the impression that not a single such place existed in the entire state due to a law requiring food to be served at places that serve alcohol.

 

I brought my 5mth old daughter to the BCBS release in KC at bierstation and it was awesome. There were several kids/infants there and noone seemed to care.

 

I am sure bars love it when parents park their children on the bar stools with shirley temples. Honestly, I have left more bars due to the lack of a bar stools because a bunch rug rat are occupying them. The majority of the time, the parents are oblivious and not even watching the kids beause they are there to socialize.