The no-kids-allowed movement is spreading.- Page 3

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 9:22am

When I was growing up there were a lot of "no kids allowed" places and events. This is nothing new. What happened was the businesses found out they could make a lot more money catering to families. As a result, parents no longer had to (or wanted to) leave their kids at home. So now they bring them everywhere in those SUV-sized strollers and giant-sized plastic wagons as if they were pioneers crossing the Great Prairie, and they think they're entitled to special rules and treatment---because many businesses do offer them special rules and treatment to gain these customers.

It isn't just the parents that caused the free-for-all behavior. It's the businesses, too. Perhaps they're even more responsible for allowing and encouraging it to happen.

So this sounds like more of a return to "the old ways," before The Family Unit called the shots.

And I for one love it!

I wish Disneyland would offer a kid-free day, but the flack and bad publicity they would receive for even thinking of such a thing would be overwhelming. But I'd love to walk around the park and ride the rides without all the screaming, crying, and stroller navigating.

Updated On: 7/28/11 at 09:22 AM

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 9:30am

Bestie, they do, it's called Gay Day.
Updated On: 7/28/11 at 09:30 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 9:32am

I said no screaming and crying!



At least we could eliminate the strollers ... but I want all three!

Updated On: 7/28/11 at 09:32 AM

[Q]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 9:37am

I don't know about Florida, but here at Disneyland in SoCal, we see a LOT of families on 'Gay Day' - and nothing competes with queens in the kingdom who have to have EVERYTHING for their little princes and princesses.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 9:43am

... not to mention their children.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 9:50am

What are your all's views on weddings? When I was younger, it was common practice not to invite anyone under 16 unless they were intimately connected to the bride or groom (sibling, close cousin, in the wedding party). It seems that's changed/changing. I just received the invite for my cousin's wedding; children 16 and under are invited to the ceremony and cocktail hour but not to the reception.

[singtopher]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 10:04am

My folks are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in a month. The celebrations include mass with the whole family (both my brother and their families) brunch after, and a nice dinner someplace they my parents aren't telling us. While my older niece and nephew (12 and 9) are invited (they are extremely well behaved), the younger two (5 and 3) are not. When my folks asked my brother and his wife if they were offended they responded, "A night without the kids? SIGN ME UP!" My point being, you'd think some couples with kids would welcome the idea of leaving the kids behind.

[Q]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 10:07am

Almost all of our friends have multiple children, but when we hold a party I specifically state in the invitation that it is an adult only affair. They all love it.

As for weddings, I don't have a problem with children at a reception - they can be served hot or cold with a variety of different sauces.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 10:17am

Our wedding invitations were sent with "No Children, Please" at the bottom. I wanted no children, but I also wanted no confusion or hurt feelings. If one guest had brought their kid(s), everyone would have assumed that we had invited them.

I've also been invited to weddings with kids, but I have never brought mine along. Having attended those weddinds, it's a decision I do not regret. My kids were always well behaved, but weddings are long days, and that's asking a bit much of them. Better to get a sitter and enjoy the event.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 11:11am

What I hate is the kids who come into my workplace (I manage a coffee shop inside a grocery store) and do one of the following:
1) Scream and whine obnoxiously loud for no real apparent reason. There's one kid who is reasonably well behaved except when inside the coffee shop and then all hell breaks lose. He kicks, he screams, he cries, and it doesn't matter what his mother does he won't stop. But she won't discipline him b/c she's afraid if she does the father will take him away (they're divorced).
2) Run around and try to come behind the counter. Not only is this a health code violation (where have those hands been?) but it can cause me to screw up a beverage trying to keep an eye on the monster behind the counter.
3) The ones who play with the signs on our ready to drink beverage case (bottle water, juice boxes, etc.). If they want to push them together, whatever...but when they pull them out or throw them on the ground just because the can, not a good idea. It especially annoys when they break the signs. Depending on when it happens, it could be 2 weeks to replace the sign. I actually went through all of my extra ones in the space of 2 hours last Christmas.
4) The ones who take straws or napkins or cup stoppers and play with them. I moved the napkins to be out of reach for most of the kids, and pulled the straws and stoppers behind the counters so that we aren't having them wasted by urchins who think they are toys.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 11:23am

I agree that adult only places are a great idea. I mean, there are places where adults shouldn't go without children, so I don't see the big deal of having those places for just adults.

I can't believe these diaper stories. Whatever happened to shirts and shoes being required to get into public places that are not the beach? Or do they not count for infants? They should because that is gross.

I agree that wedding or other party invitations should be made clear to who is invited. My sister did not do that for hers and my dad's friend was not sure if he could bring his kids along, who are over the age of 13. My other sister did invited her husband's nephews and a friend's brother, but I know they were close to these kids. It also helped because her husband's stepmother made little bags of toys for them to play with and take home.

[Q]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 11:42am

Of course, the big cosmic joke on me is that the little no-neck monsters are drawn to me like moths to a flame. It's like they can smell my disdain, and gather round to torment me like the demon spawn they are

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 11:47am

When it first opened, the Bellagio hotel in Vegas had a no children policy. It's since been lifted, I believe, but I was a kid at the time and really wanted to see the hotel (it was my dream at the time to build hotels). The guards wouldn't let me in even though my parents assured them I was very well-behaved (which was true), so I wrote a letter to the hotel management and received a response saying that I would be allowed in if my parents made an appointment with a business inside the hotel (store, restaurant, show, etc), so they did and I stayed in that hotel the entire day. Nobody said a peep
Anyway, what I'm getting at is that perhaps instead of having a ban on children, these places should simply make it more difficult for children to get in, or even a no misbehaving policy in which the children and parents would be thrown out.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:04pm

I hardly ever see kids acting the way you guys are describing. Maybe it's where I live.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:14pm

Vulgaria?




(A Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reference.)

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:17pm

my daughter is carefully noting all of your opinions and filing them away for when she takes over as empress.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:18pm

I wonder if it's worse in really big cities like NY and LA.

I actually think most bad behavior is worse in NY. I see people acting like unbelievable sh*ts and think "You'd never get away with this in _____________."

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:28pm

My former boss used to bring his toddler into the office to "give his wife a break." He would disappear into his office to do work, and his kid would run wild in the office unless one of my coworkers or myself kept him entertained. It drove me up the wall. His wife got a break, but my coworker and my productivity was ground to a screeching halt as we tried to keep him occupied (and safe!) instead of doing our jobs. He would just tell the kid to come play with me because he was busy. I should have told him my babysitting rate was more than my salary rate per hour.

I love kids and I used to work in child care, but a child care center is not the same as a toddler in an office environment, or an upscale restaurant, or many stores. I get that babysitters are expensive, but so is the display that the kids knocked over and the mother left all over the floor for an employee to clean up. I wish businesses would hold the parents accountable instead of being so worried about losing a customer. If they're going to let their kids run wild in the store, disrupting other customers, making messes and breaking things, businesses shouldn't want their patronage.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:51pm

I think it is all about the area. In my hometown, you see some children being as obnoxious as in NY, but not nearly as often. It is Tennessee, after all. A mama is just as likely to yank a child up by the arm and slap a thigh as she is to ignore problem behavior.

In Sweden, on the other hand, children are pretty well mannered.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:55pm

I grew up in a resort area. That should say it all.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 12:59pm

Ugh. SO many things that can be said about so very many things. "No kids allowed" is definitely a selling point for my friends and for myself. I have nephews - both of whom are very well behaved to the point that it shocks me - My sister is the single mother of a one year old and she has him putting toys away, sitting quietly with picture books and even throwing away his own diapers! - but nevertheless, I would never presume to take him certain places and I could NEVER picture being out with them and allowing them or myself to behave the way I often see parents behaving. I CONSTANTLY have to remind myself to blame the parents and not the child, but boy can that be difficult.

A few of my pet peeves.

1. Parents who think that everything and everyone everywhere must be appropriate for a 5 year old. Be careful what you do and say - there might be some random 4 year old that you have nothing to do with raising or bearing somewhere on a publis street in Manhattan!

2. Parents with those giant tank-sized strollers. Particularly the double wide ones for twins or when seveal mothers walk two or three abreast down a sidewalk like riot police behind shields. They just BARREL through people using their little brats as a battering ram.

3. Parents on public transit that let their kids scream and ran wild.. in a confined metal tube! Their brat screams and they just pretend that it is not happening.. or when during rush hour, you step onto a seemingly crowded train after an exhausting day and the first thing you see is a parent seated with their toddler sitting in a seat next to them. PUT YOUR KID ON YOUR LAP, PLEASE!! .. or the times that you step onto a train that isn't packed, but the seats are full and you see an entire section of seats where a pair of mothers has allowed their children to stretch out and take a nap across a few sections of 3 seats... and last, but certainly most revolting is when they wheel the tank-sized stroll onto the train and STOP just inside the door and refuse to move to allow anyone else to step on or off. It's like a barricade. One of these days, I swear Eponine is going to crawl over one of them and sing "A Little Fall of Rain".

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 2:32pm

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 3:05pm

Even today, he scares the sh*t out of me.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 3:57pm

I know...I want to go hide with Benny Hill!

[D2]

Posted: 7/28/11 at 4:44pm

I rarely had nightmares as a (well-behaved) child, but the Child-Catcher in CHITTY... scared the crap out of me too. Almost as much as "the look" from my mom. And/or Dad.