Bars: kid friendly or adults only?

I haven't read this thread yet but as a parent, I have given this question a lot of thought and have very strong opinions about it.

There are certainly places kids shouldn't be allowed, and any responsible parent wouldn't take their kids to these places anyway. But at a neighborhood pub, that serves food, especially before around 8 p.m. absolutely entire families should be allowed—and I feel that it's almost a form of discrimination that they're not.

My wife and I both work full time, and we get to see our child for a total of 2 or 3 hours a day during the week. So we actually want to spend as much time together as a family whenever we can, and in fact we feel that we have an obligation to do so. A number of places around Seattle could potentially be great, family-friendly places to hang out, but unfortunately they are licensed as 21+. This leaves us with the choice of leaving our daughter at home with a babysitter or at a friend's house, or not going to these establishments, or just going somewhere else where we're all welcome.

Now, maybe screaming babies shouldn't be allowed, but older kids who can quietly keep themselves occupied without any problem, or even participate in the conversation with their family and friends? (Imagine that, kids actually socializing in person with a group of people of different age groups and from different backgrounds, instead of getting their social interaction by staring at a fucking phone...) I guess I just don't see what the big deal is, and furthermore I think people who would refuse families the freedom to congregate where they want to are being pretty selfish.

Now I know I'm considerably older than a lot of the BAs on here, and at one point maybe I felt the same way as a lot of the younger folks on here do now. But until you have kids of your own, you simply don't realize it's not as easy as just leaving your kid at home so you can go get your drink on. At least it's not for me, thank God.

 

I definitely think this issue hinges on several factors.

1. the timing. If the bar is open past about 7:30... kids need to start rolling out.
2. The atmosphere. If it is a taproom or brewpub, I understand bringing kids. If it is a dark smokey bar with pool tables or darts and alcohol centric menu, then nope
3. Respect. If you bring kids, understand it is a place of drinking. Don't be offended if the surrounding crowd doesn't cater to your life choices.

 

Really, this needs to be up to

1. The establishment. If they are okay with kids in the bar, kids can come in the bar.
2. The parents. Don't want your kids in a bar? Don't bring them.
3. The customers. If you don't like going into a bar with screaming kids, go into the bar down the street that doesn't allow kids.

 

I'll tell you like I told the lady. Get tickets to the opera. If I purchase my ticket I have the right to say the occasional swear word or "rip his head off" that is so offensive to some people.

 

At Bennigans? Though I followed most of this, I haven't read every one. Have any bar/restaurant owners chimed in? This has to be one of the dumbest threads in BA history, because it depends on the type of place and the time of day for the love of god. One of the first brewpubs I went to had cartoon characters running around on Friday evenings- guess they liked the $$$ families brought in more then Drunky the Drunkster and his pals. Same place four hours later, or a corner bar- I'll throw the kids out myself. I've been to a Munich beerhall that had babysitting on premise- and they invented drinking beer.

 

In Scotland in midsummer, the sun doesn't set until after 10pm. Maybe that's why I started hitting the pubs at such a young age

 

Wondered why the patrons of the "weed and brew" pubs in Washington and Colorado have not commented? Sure, it is still all new there, not sure if I know for a fact there are such "combo" places yet, but with a few more states coming into it soon I wonder what level of "child friendly" environment is going to be for those places?

 

I believe those places have child-sized hamster balls with their own oxygen supply.

 

Just leave them in the car outside.

 

in a way, children are like farts. Mine don't typically bother me but other people's.....

 

This is like discussing whether one should wear a suit or not when dining. It depends.

 

I figured since highway funding is/was tied to a 21 y/o drinking age, it was fairly uniform across the country. Are we talking a restaurant with a bar inside it? Or a real bar, the kind where you get carded if you look young and you can get blackout drunk in? Are you saying there really are bars that let you bring kids in? Why would anybody do that?

 

I'm in CO, where are these beer and weed bars you speak of?

 

Pub = public house, open to the public. It's a neighborhood/village gathering place, family included. Still, the 8:00 PM rule (maybe 9:00 in big cities) pretty much applies. However, at some pubs with live music, I'd consider bringing my daughter later than that. Every pub I've been to in the USA has a kid's menu. Without families, I suspect most would go out of business. A "Night Club", no. A "bar" with only booze no food, no.

Brewery? Yes. In fact, my daughter, in her car carrier and from 1-6 months old, was taken to Harpoon brewery nearly every Saturday morning as my wife and I filled our growlers for the inevitable painting and other work to keep up a 160 year old house. They greeted her each time with "Maeve!" and the Harpoon folks fawned over her while we sampled. It's a very happy memory for me.

 

That's real nice. I'm sure that in ancient Rome there were screaming hordes of Lion fans when they "played" the Gladiators.

 

As I said before....Why does your behavior trump the enjoyment of everyone around you? Talk about entitlement. I bought a ticket therefore I am allowed to do whatever I want. If that woman, who also bought a ticket, had decided to get an usher I am pretty sure you would have been listening to your game on the radio on your drive home.

 

We need 3 types of drinking establishment.

1. Kid friendly pubs
2 adult only bars
3 Bars for adults who act like children.

 

"Go Megatron!"

 

I live in Wisconsin. Its unusual to see no kids in a bar throughout the day, especially in the north woods and rural areas. After 9, adults only. I was 16 when my father bought me my first beer at a local watering hole. Some of the bars here even have playground equipment.

 

But that one is easy. You should always wear a suit when dining...except for the occasions when you would be overdressed.

But the drinking age doesn't affect the concept of letting minors in, it just changes the age used to define a minor, be it 18, 19, 20 or 21.

As for what type of place, it could be a restaurant with a separate bar or a consolidated place. While the same law would apply to a seedy little shithole, I have trouble imagine many people taking their kids in one unless it was simply to get a pack of smokes out of the machine. Also, we are only talking about the law. An establishment can limit the ages allowed within if it wants. Certainly I've never seen kids in nightclubs and doubt if they'd let you bring them in (sort of like brining droids into the bar in Star Wars).