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
Heather…I’d love to see a fight break out in a Park Slope bar because some parent spanked his kid in front of other parent!!! I’ d pay to watch that.
My father used to bring me to the Local Legion Hall when I was a kid. But I was responsible for my age and always tipped the bar tender with MY allowance money. 25¢ Andekers… The beginning of my end.
I usually get dirty looks from the other parents when I tell the moppet to sit down and behave, or there will be no tv later.
“It just seems so inappropriate” —
geez, does that sound so victorian middle-class morals police or what? Can see folks sitting around drinking tea and discussing this with pursed lips.
It amazes me when parents bring toddlers to bar bars. It just seems so inappropriate. I have been in at least one place in Park Slope where there was critical mass of strollers and little ones running around. Aren’t there other better places for them to go?
And don’t get me started on late night R-Movies. What an awful venue for 3 year olds.
Tiptoe:
couldn’t agree more
I think this article raises the question of modern discipline. It seems many of us adults were brought to bars without issue as kids back in the 70’s and 80’s probably becaure we were well behaved and didn’t run around like “banshees”. a lot of parents nowawdays have trouble disciplining their children especially in public places!
people used to develop photographs in gay bars!?
*rob*
Posted by: Butterfly at March 3, 2010 10:49 AM
No but there were a lot of “exposures”
2nd IronBalls proposal. Korova Milf Bar in the slope please.
I think perhaps a side issue here is that certain parents don’t take it upon themselves to either discipline their toddlers/children OR teach them how to act properly in a public place OR remove them from said public place when the child acts up. This does not seem to be a problem in countries such as Ireland, where kids don’t go around screaming like banshees without some serious parental repercussions. So, perhaps these bad eggs have gone ahead and forged a not-so-nice reputation that now applies to all parents of young kids?
And though it doesn’t seem fair, sometimes we need these hard and fast rules like no kids after 5 p.m. only because the other alternative is for the manager or owner to selectively turn away people with kids that they have sized up to be “trouble.” I can guarantee there would be some huge stink about that!