I don’t drink, so it’s not part of my decision making when picking a place to eat, but it seems like all of the places I end up have at least a little focus on alcoholic beverages.
I guess what I’m asking is if the drinks are the actual appeal to parents or if they just want decent food at a local restaurant.
I would have never thought of this, but it really is a great idea. There obviously are a lot of people who want to bring their kids to a brewery. Surprisingly, complaining about problems online doesn’t fix anything, but your idea would actually help. If a brewery specifically has places for children to play, more families will go there, which will lead to less families at other breweries. A brewery that has spaces specifically for children will make it clear to people who don’t want to be around children (myself included) that this isn’t the spot for them.
But instead of thinking of solutions, its much easier to tell strangers online how they should raise their kids. People definitely come to this website for parenting advice!
I wasn’t named Parent of Decade by Parenting Magazine for nothing
Thank you for saying this - as a fellow kid-free adult, it’s wild to see someone complaining about the lack of kid-friendly drinking establishments…I don’t go to Lynwood or Ponysaurus anymore because of the children
Is this a troll? A lack of kid-free drinking establishments? Am I taking crazy pills?
I could rattle off about 50 bars I’ve never seen a single child.
I can see both sides. There is a place for both kid free and family friendly brewpubs. Nothing is wrong with either, just different strokes for different folks.
I do find it ironic that people complain about kids at a brewpub with a slide.
I think that we already established that (for whatever reason) the slide wasn’t intended for children.
Yeah listen, there’s obviously at least 2 sides to this, and I expressed my thoughts. I’m not here to give parenting advice, I don’t hate kids, and I certainly don’t want to argue about it with people that I like and respect here. I said my bit and am happy to move along.
My only real problem was the kids clogging up my adult slide, but that’s been solved. Now I only need to hop a fence.
Roganberry was obviously complaining about the market’s inability to provide those kinds of places, and not that children should be allowed everywhere with impunity.
I am so, so sympathetic to people that just want to be somewhere without being bothered by other people’s kids. I felt that way before I had a kid and sometimes I feel that way about you people’s poorly behaved dogs (which is functionally the same thing whether you like it or not). But sometimes you come off as joyless scolds when you whine about it. Occasionally I want to get out of my house without hiring a babysitter and I can only go to the museum so many times. So sue me
Uhh. Don’t get me started on people bringing their frigging dogs into grocery stores.
I think people are conflating two different issues. Parents shouldn’t expect other patrons to change their language or behavior because children are present, and they should absolutely keep their kids under control.
But having kids doesn’t mean your social life is over. Around much of the world, breweries and beer gardens are community gathering places where adults have a few beers while families socialize during the day. Of course, not every brewery needs to be that either.
And let’s be honest—Raleigh already has countless bars, cocktail lounges, sports bars, and late-night spots that aren’t appropriate for kids. Arguing against having a handful of intentionally family-friendly breweries because you don’t want to see children at all seems like an overcorrection. There’s room in the market for both, and people can choose the atmosphere they prefer.
Humans or non-humans just need to be aware of what’s going on around them and act accordingly. I don’t mind it when kids are out around me, it’s just how they act that matters.
Example: We were at Oakwood Pizza Box on a weekday night. If you’ve been you know that the indoor seating is quite narrow. There was a group with two parents and four kids. (probably low single digits in age) After they finished eating, two of the kids started running up and down that narrow aisle. The parents just sat there chatting and sipping away. It was awkward for practically the entire seating area and the servers had a few, “oh, excuse me kids!” moments. The body language around the place was obvious that people wanted those kids to stop running around. Then the bill showed and they left.
Whatever the situation just be aware that there are others around you. It applies to a lot of shared spaces like parks and transit even.
I’m a strong advocate for “it takes a village” - that would’ve been my cue to say “EXCUSE ME, STOP RUNNING AROUND MY SEAT, PLEASE. THANKS.”
If the parents don’t like that and try saying something to me, I’m just gonna treat them with the same scolding tone that I gave the kids. Bad behavior persists when we allow it to, IMO. Same thing applies anywhere else we are in public. If an adult were running around the aisles and where I’m sitting, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask them to knock it off. So I gotta have the same energy for their kids, sorry not sorry lol - alternatively, if one doesn’t want to yell at someone else’s kid (which again, should not be taboo - I remember being yelled at by strangers when I was acting unruly as a kid and the result? I stopped doing whatever bullshit I was doing hahaha) - then I’d just direct that energy straight at their parents themselves - “EXCUSE ME, PLEASE GET A HANDLE ON YOUR KID PLEASE, THEY’RE RUNNING AROUND MY SEAT AND CAUSING A HAZARD IN THE ONLY WALKING PATH - THANKS.”
I saw a lady rolling around her medium-sized dog in the cart in Target for the first time the other day and had to do a double take. It didn’t bother me too much until it started barking at some teenage boys walking by. The lady and her daughter weren’t even phased…they thought it was funny. Meanwhile I’m standing there wondering (hoping) when an employee was gonna kick them out. It never happened. Called my aunt who works at Target part-time afterwards to ask her about their dog policy. Apparently Target doesn’t allow dogs unless it’s a service dog, but the rule isn’t actually ever enforced. She did agree that they should’ve been approached/reprimanded after the dog started barking though.
And to think we wonder how kids find themselves joining a late night take-over crowd, mouthing off to adults with authority, or becoming young adults with no respect to the world around them.
I have actually spoken to employees of stores with “no pets” policies and have been told that management won’t let them confront any violators, and that they appreciate when customers say things to other customers. The problem is that the other customer ends up receiving the rage of the violator. I’ve seen similar things happen with children who run amok in public places. Parents can go ballistic if someone tries to discipline their precious children who are behaving like little beasts.
It’s sad that that’s the situation we’re currently in, but it’s also reflective of the current state of society. There is no “village” anymore like Jake was alluding to, so all accountability is gone. Nowadays parents can’t even discipline their own kids the way they’d like, let alone someone else shame/discipline them without the fear of being labeled insensitive/mean at the least, or having CPS called on them at worst (for whooping your own kid, for example). Not even saying I agree with whooping your kids (I don’t), but that’s something we all grew up with. Not my business how someone else chooses to discipline their kids, as long as it’s not actual abuse.
C’mon y’all, we can meet in the middle - let’s bring back shame for drunk parents letting their kids free in bars and drunk adults who want the slides to themselves.
Since we’re saying our piece, though, I’ll drop my take in - having now been a parent for a handful of years, as someone who was never comfortable around young kids before that. I understand not wanting to share space with kids, but I also suspect that society will suffer if we begin to honor that more as a right than a preference.
I appreciate @Jake 's point the most. If my kid is getting in your space, I want you to (politely, but firmly as you like) tell him how you feel about it. He should know. He’s a human. I will back you up on it. Hell, I’ll thank you for doing it (he’s not listening to me very much, I need the help).
I suspect childless folks don’t realize how stressful it is to be in public managing one (or god forbid more) kids and feeling completely alone in your responsibility to them and anxious about them upsetting others or breaking things. Not every parent takes that seriously, it’s true, but those of us who do… y’all, we don’t brave the restaurant or the brewery for nothing, it’s cause we really, really need to pretend we’re real adult people who can leave the house sometimes.
I sympathize now, as I could not before, with parents who just give up (wild child and iPad varieties), even though I do not think that’s acceptable or condone it. I just deeply, deeply get it.
It’s a good thing I got that all off my chest, kids at breweries never comes up in internet conversations or on Reddit, who knows when I’d get the chance again!
p.s. some of the times I’ve most felt a part of a community was when my kid got loose and got in someone’s space and they rolled with it, talked with him, played whatever he wanted to play. It’s a wonderful feeling. I don’t expect that from everyone, but if you have the capacity to be that person, know that you make the world better by doing it.
I appreciate everything you say, but I also think that there are clearly spaces that most would agree are “adult”. What I mean by the “adult” is that these spaces are catering primarily to adults with some wiggle room. Establishments that serve food that kiddies love like pizza are clearly blurring the lines, but I think that there should be both behavioral norms/expectations and cut-off hours of having your kids out in what are primarily adult spaces. While I doubt that neither norms nor hours would ever be implemented or enforced, one can dream.
Like an adult should be expected to be respectful in kid oriented spaces (like what you wear and how you communicate), I don’t think that people who impose their kids in adult spaces should expect adults to edit their behaviors and prioritize their kids in them.
Yup, I’m in agreement with all that actually. It’s easy to over-rotate into defensiveness, especially since parenting a toddler is a pretty emotionally charged affair. But for example, I totally support: clearly delineated adult spaces (when my kid is grown or with a babysitter these are spaces I want to be in, too), cut-off hours for mixed spaces like breweries (get your dang kids to bed y’all), and adults being themselves toward kids and expressing their actual feelings (provided they can be, well, adults about it).