Probably not the best topic for me to be endorsing the week I'm about to have my first child, but my friend put a Status on her Facebook page that I read, giggled and and innocently commented on. Then her other Facebook friends chimed in with some ignorant comments and well, I got a little defensive. My comment is the last one and it took me about 20 minutes to how to write it nicely to avoid any Facebook catfights with total strangers.
Keep in mind, her Status was written during a St. Patrick's Day Parade at 6PM.
(click to read)
Comments like this (especially from Douchebag #1), even before I was pregnant and soon to become a mom make me want to smush a dirty diaper in their face. I think responsible parents should be able bring their (preferably well mannered or sleeping) babies and kids wherever they want! As I said in my closing comments, there's a time and place. Obviously, bringing your kid to a bar anytime past 8 PM is not considered great parenting, but if it's in the afternoon/early evening to get out and take a break, what's the problem baby haters? Why and how is it affecting YOU?
I know or have friends that would agree with anti-babies in public comments and even take it a step further and don't like seeing kids at restaurants or parties or basically in public. They think kids belong at home, at a park or at the zoo. Comments like "should have known what you were getting into before you had kids" is frankly pretty rude. In a way, almost akin to racists or bigot thoughts that gay people shouldn't get married because "they chose that life" (a little extreme, but it falls into the same family).
Life doesn't stop when you have kids and while I agree not everyone knows the right time and place to bring their babies out in public and not all parents are responsible, there's nothing wrong with having a drink/socializing at a bar and having a baby sleeping beside you, especially if the bar is roomy and especially if they have a beer garden. It's not hurting anyone and I'm pretty sure, especially during the recession, bar owners are more than happy to have people coming in patronizing their bar during their downtime, with their babies or not. As a former bartender, I always like parents coming in for a drink in the afternoon. The tips were great!!
And...aren't babies and toddlers basically like drunk people anyway? They drool, puke, pass out and sometimes cry or poop their pants if they've had to much to drink. If you ask me, they are in perfect company.
I feel the same way about dogs in bars, which is why I wanted to open a Dog bar in Boystown called Boners and Lickers. Now I'm gunna have to come up with a name for a Baby bar, where you can drink AND bring your baby. It would even have "Pump and Dump" stations in the bathroom. I might even let the Octomom come in and have a brewskie (I'd just charge her double).
Not everyone is going to agree on this topic and that's okay. If you have a great reason why babies and kids need to stay out of bars, I'd love to hear it.
File this one in the time and place department:
ReplyDeleteOne thing that baffles me is the parents that bring their infants and toddlers to the dog park.
We have all, at the very least, been knocked over by a dog or two at the park and we are big full and super-sized grown up adults.
Why would a parent let their toddler run around in a fenced off area with packs of dogs running at full throttle (the wolf pen at the zoo too far from the house, maybe?) The dogs are doing what they are supposed to do in the park. But should a dog knock over little Jakey, who do you think will be firing off the legal papers before the end of the business day and filing a motion to "have your dog taken to the sheriff and destroyed immediately (thanks Elmira Gulch . . .) And these same parents let their toddler do what toddlers do: Run around and squeak. How do you think a dog perceives that?
And then you must examine what is going on in a parents head to put their toddler or infant in a fenced in cage with a bunch of dogs they know nothing about. Some dogs are just plain freaked about things like strollers and in some cases kids in general.
I have seen new mothers with their newborns in front mounted baby slings on the snowy, icy dog park grounds. All it would take is one dog to clip the back of their leg and baby goes splat.
And people also bring their aggressive and ill-trained dogs to the park, as dog parents can be equally as brainless.
As a parent, do you know if that person is there today?
Which is the main point. Your bad judgement deserved a call to the DCFS Hotline.
Makes a bar sound practically like Mother Goose's Safe Haven Day-Care and Play Center . . .
Yes, okay...Now THAT I can get with because people love to sue and there's danger involved. Not all dogs are okay around screaming children and you run the risk of getting hurt. So yes, good point. Dog parks + children are not the best idea! I get so nervous when there are dumb kids around my dog screaming in their faces. It's the cardinal rule of what NOT to do around pooches.
ReplyDeleteI don't take my dog to the park anymore---learned too many bad habits from the dogs with bad parents.