You find your usual Class C softball players in full uniform, drunks, sports fans, women waiting for the music to get bumping. And kids.
Yes I said children. And I am talking about young kids 10 and under.
I've seen tables of parents drinking beer while their kids roam the bar playing video games and begging for coins to put in a juke box. I've seen children sit at the bar playing video games which I thought was against the rules.
It just does not seem right.
I know I would not do that with my kids. Little B and I have had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, Harry's downtown and at Rosie O'Grady's. But it is usually in the day and we clear out by 8 or 9 to go home. I cannot imagine going to a bar, getting plastered while my kid is at the table or horsing around, and then driving home at 11 to sleep it off.
There are certain places kids do not belong. I was shocked about six months ago to not only see a five year old walking around a bar but she went behind the bar to see what was going on. The parents did not move. They were too busy getting hammered.
Now am I being out of line? Am I being too old fashioned? Or does what I say make sense?
T-Foss,
ReplyDeleteYou are completely right about this. I don't have children, and this has bothered my wife and I so much in the past, that we wrote to one of the establishments you talked about. The company was very sorry, replied by e-mail, and sent us $50 in gift certificates that we never used. I explicitly wrote the chain that we would never return, and we haven't. I understand that business is tough these days, and it seems bars are willing to cover their margins by allowing children to frequent their establishments, but it is an atmosphere that children need not be introduced. I felt that we had to watch what we were doing, and what we said, for fear of a child overhearing a four letter word. I ask you to use your voice to tell these thirty-something parents to stop doing this, they had their chance, and it is not right to bring children into the bar.
You're right Terry, but I guess we need to get used to it. I've got to say, I've brought my kids 16-17 year olds and their friends to Buffalo Wild Wings a few times for UFC nights. With younger kids you should be staying home and that's what I did.
ReplyDeleteTerry, Of course you are right about late nights out with the kids at the bar, but I think that most parents would claim that they are not drinking excessively and it isn't hurting the child--and these are lies. I think that any week-night out after 9:00 PM shows horrible parenting no matter where they take the kids. Also, weekend evenings with children should never be spent at a bar--these places are often fraught with danger. I saw kids in a bar for the first time out in Seattle, and I thought that it was illegal in Michigan and felt proud to be from here--whoops. It was only a pizza joint with a beer license, but it still felt wrong to be drinking across from young children.
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