Irritated

[poyre]

Ok, on one hand, I have a friends Journal who points to the article about the cafe A Taste of Heaven and their policies on children. http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0511/20/A23-387307.htm This of course was implemented because yuppie parents are

Comments

[miniluv]

I think a lot of it is that exact backlash. Society went way overboard with the whole kid friendly thing, despite the fact that households with children are in fact a minority in this country. By a not insignificant margin I might add (households with no under 18 children: ~72K w/ under 18 children: ~39K).

It can be extremely frustrating being a childless person in a children centric society. My television is criminalized, my choice is criticized, I potentially see preferential treatment given others due to having children (not just in the work place, but everywhere. Its just most onerous in the workplace). Despite all of that, I don't loathe children. I still don't want any, but I think they're amazing little people.

That doesn't mean I want, nor that I must be compelled to endure, their amazingness ad nauseum ad infinitum in society. Just as I think you would quite rightly be pissed off I threw a temper tantrum in a store while you sat and attempted to enjoy a latte, I can become irritated when I must endure someone else throwing such a tantrum. Now, its not the tantrum that bothers me, its the lack of response to it. I can imagine that if the staff whisked me outside, you'd forget the whole thing momentarily. I do the same if the parent whisks the child off for some time to work out whatever's bugging the kid.

I know the tantrum is generally caused in babies by a need for feeding or changing and screaming/crying/yelling is all the kid can do. I sympathize with both the kid and the parent, I've known enough parents to have some conception of how much work it is. Certainly enough to know I sure as shit ain't doing it!

I think you'll also have to concede that its not the norm for people to shoot nasty looks, let alone actually SAY something. I say this as someone who has said something, when a child literally collided with a fellow dinner guest at a restaurant. I told the child, quietly but authoritatively, to slow down and when the parent was near I again quietly asserted that the child shouldn't be running for risk of hurting themselves. The point is that most of us accomodate the children quite a bit, and all we're asking in return is that some spaces be respected as oriented towards adults, and therefor that parents mind their children.