Brooklyn Bar-Baby Debate Goes National
A debate that will be familiar to any resident of Brownstone Brooklyn—whether or not children should be allowed in bars—was elevated to the national spotlight when CNN picked up an old thread on Brooklynian and a more recent story in The Courier this week about how the Windsor Terrace bar Double Windsor had banned babies…
A debate that will be familiar to any resident of Brownstone Brooklyn—whether or not children should be allowed in bars—was elevated to the national spotlight when CNN picked up an old thread on Brooklynian and a more recent story in The Courier this week about how the Windsor Terrace bar Double Windsor had banned babies after 5 p.m. We are Windsor Terrace and Park Slope parents like everyone else, one of the owners told The Courier. But the bottom like is that this is a bar, and most of our customers feel like it’s not an appropriate place for kids after hours. A single father profiled in the CNN story, however, contends that a little common sense and moderation are all that are needed for peace and harmony: “I’m not going to keep her out past 7 p.m. When the bar starts filling up, that’s when we head home…I’m not knocking back double vodkas while my daughter is stumbling around.” We’ll confess to having taken our school-age kids to Radegast for an occasional late-afternoon beer on the weekends, though like the guy in the CNN story, we’ve certainly never stayed past 7 p.m. and it’s always been combined with buying the kids dinner.
Brooklyn Brewhaha: Babies in Bars [CNN]
Photo from Babble.com
Sure way to make sure your kid becomes a raging alcoholic when he goes away to college – don’t let him grow up watching his parents and other grownups drink responsibly like it’s normal and no big deal. As many posting from the UK and EU on the CNN article say, it’s not unusual at all to see babies and children in pubs there. They don’t get it. As usual, the USA falls on the puritanical side of the debate. There’s also such a creepy culture here towards moms especially, making them feel guilty if they’re not at home with the baby day and night having no fun at all.
Children in bars should be like anything else in life — handled with courtesy and common sense. Our 17-month-old is the mellowest kid you can imagine, and we’ve been taking him to restaurants since he was a few months old. But we go early (the child does have a bedtime, after all), and if it’s not immediately obvious the place is child-friendly, we ask if it’s ok to bring the baby in (and we’ve never once been told no). On the rare occasions that he gets cranky and starts crying, we take him outside so as not to disturb the other customers. If everyone simply were courteous and thoughtful, and didn’t have an entitlement complex, everything would be a lot more pleasant.
I have 2 lil ones and live right near the Dbl W. I keep hoping they will use one of those big windows as a walk-up take out so I can get some grub.
When that Katie’s Gift Shop closes down, throw up MILF bar. I’ll be the first in line. Getting totaly split-pea may be a poor parenting move, but sometimes one stiff drink is just want a mama needs to NOT kill her kids.
I think it’ll be amazing to have an intersection where 3 out of 4 corners have bars, each serving a different demographic.
A darkroom might work…glory holes with lactating boobs?
I mean, what’s new is that WOMEN (not moms) go to bars. White women, that is. Still not common in hispanic bars.
Lots of stories from my mom and grandmas about the first (or the only) time they went into a bar and what happened.
One of my grandmothers used to fetch beer in a pail from a bar for her dad when she was 6 or 8. Does that count?
My new favorite…”my shocked face.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjHBbtcGE0&NR=1
Shankapotamus ad…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRPRVTQl6Sc
Yeah, Broke, but all his friends are diaper-wetting whiners.
“Babies, to my knowledge, aren’t good tippers.”
That e-Trade baby always tips his caddy after he takes $20 off of shankapotomus.
Most free booze comes because you leave a good tip. Babies, to my knowledge, aren’t good tippers.