Park Slope Babies and Beer

Old Time Brooklyn wrote: Irony: the "sound" of the anti-baby whiners on this board is much more annoying than any kid in a bar could ever be.

I disagree with that, but ultimately I believe that it is up to the establishment. If they don't want strollers and kids in their bar and you want to take your kids in, then fuck off and go somewhere else. You have no right to have your kids in there. And in reverse, if they are cool with strollers and kids, and you want a kid-free drinking experience, then fuck off and go somewhere else.

Please. This isn't rocket science.

Peanuts wrote: "the baby is entitled to be served a meal just as much as you are I.
They are a paying customer"

that's true but if I was screaming or crying or running around, I'd probably be asked to leave

WORD!

Worst 1 hour of my life - Sunday, May 4, 2008 - 5:50-6:50PM - Two Boots - forced to go 'cause that's the only place my mother-in-law wanted to eat (don't ask) - it was total child anarchy - loudest decibel level I can ever remember at a restaurant - kids running around, screaming, throwing things, etc. Few if any parental attempts to intervene. As a parent and a grandparent I can tell you it doesn't have to be and shouldn't be that way. Never Again! No Mas!

I blame the parents.

You're so full of shit.

Yawn...

bklynpetunia wrote: why do people equate going to a bar w/ getting totally smashed? .

Because there are a number of people who can only enjoy being in a bar if that's what the end result is to be. It's the "let's go get hammered" mentality. That's why shitty beers sell just as well as good ones.

I agree - I don't think it's at all inappropriate to have a beer or two around any kids. Most people know how to handle that amount of booze.

Although I want to add that I guess it all depends on what you've grown up around. My sister and I lived in San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s with a single art student mother. She took us everywhere out with her hippie/artist friends. Other kids were around as well. I don't know that we necessarily bar hopped, but we were definitely taken to crazy concerts in Golden Gate Park, Winterland and The Fillmore where everyone was drinking and smoking pot. But my mother always kept it light and the friends looked out for us.

Anyway, I turned out OK in the sense that I have no addictions to drugs or alcohol as a result of my childhood. If anything, listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen probably messed me up somehow.

Peanuts wrote: "the baby is entitled to be served a meal just as much as you are I.
They are a paying customer"

that's true but if I was screaming or crying or running around, I'd probably be asked to leave

You can add "shitting my pants and stinking up the place" to the list.

The Chipster wrote: Just to clarify:
Babies are NOT toddlers, and remain in their strollers or laps.
Toddlers SHOULD be controlled, and that's what aggravates most of us.
I WILL trip a kid when they're runnin around in a restaurant and their parents totally IGNORE it. It ain't cute. Just sayin..

You, a (presumably) grown man, would assault a toddler? Dear me, what a charmer.

Tell me, have you ever actually tripped a kid? I'd be interested in your experiences in the field. How do parents normally react? Or are you just, you know, trying to be "macho" with your baby-fighting boasts?*


*It's not working

Old Time Brooklyn wrote: You're the whiner. "Waaaa, kids are in a bar and I'm not happy."

And you'd never trip a kid in a hundred years.

For the record, I never said that. I was trying to differentiate between babies and toddlers. I never once said the above. Ever.

Hitting a toddler could be dangerous, as they do grow up.

great face, and great photo!

But isn't the baby uncomfortable when you close the attache case?

I'm sorry but "park slope babies and beer" ...? no matter what side you fall on, well, if you're 'into' it you may be too close to it to reflect. but if people are able to step back from it, it's a bit crazy. !

I think the title of the group and/or posting "Babies and Beer" stirs a lot of emotions. It really makes it look like the focus is on the beer (not that there's anything wrong with that). Just wondering if the extreme reactions on both side would have been as strong and as numerous if the topic was "Mother's Group Meeting at local restaurant".

To me, there's nothing wrong with a group of moms taking their babies to a place that may or may not serve beer at 3:00 pm in the afternoon on one particular day. If it was at happy hour or at 11:00 pm, then I think it would be reasonable to have an objection. But a lot of businesses do offer special deals during slow times to draw traffic. Some movie theaters in Manhattan have special mom & baby screenings during the day. That may inconvenience a few people but it helps serve a need for the moms and it draws business that they wouldn't have otherwise, and I'd be the first person to thank the parents for taking the screaming baby to a show at 1:00 in the afternoon as opposed to the one I'm going to in the evening.

The same holds true for the Park Slope Ale House. I like going there for dinner sometimes, but I'm not crazy about loud babies or out of control toddlers, so if they're there early in the day when I'm nowhere around, all the better. But if I was off during the day and wandered by Park Slope Ale House at 3:00 on that specific day, I don't think I'd have a cow about it, I'd just go some place else. I think everyone (anti-baby drunks, pro-baby drunks and everyone in between) would benefit from realizing that we cannot always get exactly what we want exactly when we want it, so if we can just be a little flexible, then everyone can get along without causing unnecessary animosity. We could all be more understanding of each other. Like the old saying goes, until you've walked a mile in their Crocs, you don't know what the mothers who want to drink with their babies have experienced. But if there was more understanding, then this board would be boring.

My vision of neighborhood peace is to see the drunken, childless infant-haters holding hands with babies and toddlers while the mothers are doing shots. Oh, and everyone would be wearing really cool t-shirts with ironic sayings on them.

turtle95 wrote: I think the title of the group and/or posting "Babies and Beer" stirs a lot of emotions. It really makes it look like the focus is on the beer (not that there's anything wrong with that). Just wondering if the extreme reactions on both side would have been as strong and as numerous if the topic was "Mother's Group Meeting at local restaurant".

To me, there's nothing wrong with a group of moms taking their babies to a place that may or may not serve beer at 3:00 pm in the afternoon on one particular day. If it was at happy hour or at 11:00 pm, then I think it would be reasonable to have an objection. But a lot of businesses do offer special deals during slow times to draw traffic. Some movie theaters in Manhattan have special mom & baby screenings during the day. That may inconvenience a few people but it helps serve a need for the moms and it draws business that they wouldn't have otherwise, and I'd be the first person to thank the parents for taking the screaming baby to a show at 1:00 in the afternoon as opposed to the one I'm going to in the evening.

The same holds true for the Park Slope Ale House. I like going there for dinner sometimes, but I'm not crazy about loud babies or out of control toddlers, so if they're there early in the day when I'm nowhere around, all the better. But if I was off during the day and wandered by Park Slope Ale House at 3:00 on that specific day, I don't think I'd have a cow about it, I'd just go some place else. I think everyone (anti-baby drunks, pro-baby drunks and everyone in between) would benefit from realizing that we cannot always get exactly what we want exactly when we want it, so if we can just be a little flexible, then everyone can get along without causing unnecessary animosity. We could all be more understanding of each other. Like the old saying goes, until you've walked a mile in their Crocs, you don't know what the mothers who want to drink with their babies have experienced. But if there was more understanding, then this board would be boring.

My vision of neighborhood peace is to see the drunken, childless infant-haters holding hands with babies and toddlers while the mothers are doing shots. Oh, and everyone would be wearing really cool t-shirts with ironic sayings on them.

Testify - although I don't intend to walk a mile in anyone's Crocs. Those things are ugly.