I bet the title of this post got your attention. This post is an outcome of an article I read earlier today on Yahoo’s Shine ezine titled “The no-kids-allowed movement is spreading” by Piper Weiss (feel free to read the article by clicking the title). In her article Ms. Weiss points out how businesses, namely airlines, hotels, movie theaters, restaurants, and even grocery stores are banning kids.

Earlier this month the same author had posted an article titled “Restaurant bans kids under 6. Discrimination or smart move?” I had read the article. Gotten really worked up. Wanted to write what I thought about this issue. Then the frenzied workload of the day invaded my thoughts and held me captive so long that all memories of it had faded until it was unearthed again today.

I am really worked up. I mean, let’s think about this. When did children become a nuisance to society, that we have to keep them out of public places? Kids are kids. They are today’s foundations being built for tomorrow’s citadels of society.

It’s perfectly understandable that there are places that are not kid-friendly. I would not take my two-year old son to a movie theater and even when he is older I would not go to a movie that is not a kid-friendly movie anyway (I mean who takes their kids to see Scary Movie 6 and Saw 10?).

I can understand about adult only hotels for vacation destinations. Sometimes I feel like that’s what I need.

I can also deal with an upscale restaurant that seeks patronage from adults, especially from those without kids. My wife R and I like to eat out and take L (my two-year old son) with us. We as parents are respectful of others and if L throws a tantrum one of us (most of the time me) just takes him out and comes back when he settles down again. I don’t want to ruin someone’s first time in three month’s date with their wife or mess up a romantic dinner by having them listen to my crying child.

But, grocery stores? Really? Of all places? L loves going to the grocery store with mommy and daddy. It has even become one of our favorite father-son activity on Saturdays. This is one way we give mommy some much-needed alone time. In one of our recent trips we even surprised mommy by buying flowers for her. L picked out the biggest and the most colorful bouquet. Grocery Stores are where he learned one of life’s most important lessons – you can’t have M&Ms without first paying for them. Visits to the grocery store have increased his two-year old vocabulary by at least 6 words – car, cart, mine, ice-cream, pay, eat (do you see the logic?).

I think that the grocery store part of the article is the part that has me worked up most. It’s like telling a parent, single or stay home, that they can’t shop for groceries if they have a toddler on the tow.

Very few of us would ever want to/can afford to fly first class with a baby. Very few of us with kids would mind if adults who are without kids wanted a restaurant of their own or a vacation destination. Most of us with kids would not go to a movie theater to watch a movie if the movie is not kid friendly. But all of us with kids would mind if suddenly we found ourselves banned from the grocery stores because we have a toddler in tow. Or, that we can only shop for groceries at a certain time during the week and weekends if we bring our kids with us.

I think it is one thing to prevent disruptive children from creating a negative experience for other patrons by having a sign that says that disruptive children and their parents will be asked to leave and it’s totally another thing to say if you have kids you are not welcome.

What are your thoughts? Should kids be banned? What about grocery stores?

© 2011  http://whyfatherhoodrocks.wordpress.com Ahin Chakraborty

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