Mar 22, 2010 16:30
There's been a lot of discussion about babies and children lately and about places that are inappropriate for them. I'm talking movie theaters and bars, but there's even been discussion about regulating babies on airplanes. Of course, parents are up in arms about all this. My personal favorite is the controversy over banning giant strollers on buses and in bars and the no children after 5 PM rule. Parents are complaining that they should be able to have a night out while bar-goers don't want little kids in their hangouts.
This all seems completely ridiculous to me. Why? Europe.
I've noticed something. Spaniards are better parents than Estadounidenses. Really. I've only seen one misbehaving child in two months of commuting and group trips. In the U.S., there would have been tons of them. I don't know what the Madrilenos are doing, but it works. On my way to school, I have to walk past a daycare center and sidewalks in Madrid are narrow. Yet parents with small children and I with my giant school bag can walk past each other comfortably. There's no complaining about the residents of Madrid having oversized strollers. There are no scuffles over handicapped/pregnant seating on the metro and people with strollers are never a problem.
As for bars, there are never children. Maybe it's because bars open later here, but I've seen parents out with children pretty late. I thought there was a general understanding in America that bars are for adults. When did this change? My parents never took me to bars unless they were bar/restaurants and we were always there for the restaurant part. I've never heard of a controversy over having kids/strollers in bars until now.
parenting,
children,
spain