Is it discriminating against children, or is it keeping adult spaces free of disturbances? Be it restaurant patrons, concertgoers, or Brooklynites in bars, adults through editorials or outright bans are stating that they want their spaces child-free. Parents, on the other hand, feel that not bringing their children along, especially if the child is well-behaved, is restrictive, if not discriminatory.
A year ago, a writer for CNN wrote an editorial about parents bringing their babies to bars in Brooklyn; the introduction of a baby to an adult-oriented space, she states, essentially requires everyone to become child-friendly:
Single hipsters and others without (and sometimes with) kids complain about being asked to watch their language, to not smoke outdoors near strollers and to keep their drunk friends under control so as not to scare the little ones. They don’t want to feel pressure to play peekaboo. They want to cry over their beers, they say, without having an infant drown them out. If anyone is spitting up, they want it to be them.
Brooklyn hipsters might complain about babies, but a Pennsylvania restaurant owner banned them and all children under 6 years of age entirely. His reasons? Children cause too much of a disturbance and are too loud.
Parents quoted in a PennLive.com editorial shot back, feeling that such bans don’t take responsible parents into account. But, what exactly is a responsible parent? Someone who takes a crying or whining child outdoors for a time out? Or, someone who understands that certain spaces, be it a bar, concert, or restaurant, just aren’t for children?
Tony Hicks, a writer for the Costa Mesa Times, falls into the latter category, especially after seeing toddlers in the audience of a Katy Perry concert. But, rather than singing along to songs like “Firework,” the kids were essentially asleep or bored. A concert, Hicks argues, can also expose a child to disorderly or drunken behavior, drugs, or an overly-sexual atmosphere. He writes:
The bottom line is that some concerts shouldn’t be open to kids of a certain age. I could see taking a 12-year-old to Katy Perry; maybe even a 10-year-old. But 2 and 4? That’s why they have “Sesame Street Live,” the Wiggles, “Disney on Ice” and Justin Bieber, who’s kind of like a Muppet with better hair. Kids aren’t supposed to be our little party buddies. They’re supposed to be home, getting a good night’s sleep. They have plenty of time to get their eardrums blown out at concerts later in life.
Do you agree with him? Or, with children running wild in restaurants and babies in bars, what, exactly, do you consider a responsible parent?
