By Jamie Neben
Imagine this: you’re looking forward to a guy’s night out—or girl’s night—as you arrive at your favorite corner bar where everyone knows your name. It’s happy hour, your favorite sports team is on the big screen TV, and the joint is jumping. As you prepare to take a swig of your beverage of choice, you notice that you’re being watched. Not by your friends, not by a stranger across the room, not even by the bartender. The eyes belong to a child sitting in a stroller.
In the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, this has become a real issue. At one bar, the stroller situation got so out of control that the owner had to ban them due to liability reasons. More than once, I have personally witnessed parents take young kids into a bar. I’m not talking about a restaurant that also has a bar. I’m referring to establishments that serve alcohol and don’t offer much else. My feeling is there are very few good reasons why it’s acceptable to have children in those places. I say this not because I believe the people inside are dangerous. On the contrary, most are likely respectable, well-behaved individuals just out for a drink and some social interaction. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a cocktail if done responsibly. But as more drinks are poured, and more customers walk in, there is a greater risk of carelessness, diminished cognitive and motor skills, and vulgar language among those who aren’t quite as responsible. Purely by accident, somebody could stumble right into a stroller.
What do you think? Should the bar scene include infants and toddlers? Have you seen it yourself?
Jamie~
All to often I have seen it, more and more places are banning it, not as the 10 o’clock curfew, but all together. And so many of these bars have a whole line of people smoking cigars, cigarrettes and yes Marijuana. So HELL NO is it acceptable, 18 and up only, and 18 yr olds should be removed at the very least midnight. I am disgusted to think it has went on this long and is just now being thought of as a ‘Problem’.
I myself spent many years behind a bar, when my Aunt would babysit me, I would see horrible fights, hear foul language, watch people fall off the bar stool, and to me it was ‘Normal, but as a mother of four I refuse to go to restraunts that allow cigarette smoking with my children, and have lately tried to find ways to only choose non smoking restraunts.
I agree that the patrons of the bar may be well respected in thier line of work, and deserve an adult beverage if they chose to go to a bar, but bringing Junior along just does not seem very smart as you mentioned the danger of a tipsy patron, or even worse putting that child into the car to endanger them further with an intoxicated driver.
Thank you for bringing this to the WAVESOFGRAY.COM it deserves attention and needs to be discussed!