Childfree
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/207177
So the gist is , in Chicago some places are taking steps to ensure a childfree, or anti-child atmosphere.
"A Chicago-area beach has established a child-free zone, leaving some people to wonder if
children aren't welcome on a beach, where are they welcome?"
There is also talk of childfree restaurants and airlines/flights/ a family section on planes.
How do you feel about this idea? Great for families? Or is it oppression?
How do you feel about business owners putting up signs like "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when they come to A Taste of Heaven."
and "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."
They're not about to suffer little children
Child-free zones are popping up, along with nasty looks to let parents know the kids aren’t welcome
By SUZANNE CASSIDY, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: Jul 22, 2007 12:17 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Americans like to think they live in a pro-child, family-friendly culture, but it seems that some people are pining for a return to the days when children were seen but not heard.
And some Americans, it seems, would prefer that children not even be seen.
In recent weeks, a series of controversies has raised questions about American attitudes toward children.
A new Pennsylvania law declaring that mothers should be permitted to breast-feed in public was met with pleas for moms to cover up while nursing; the subject of bared breasts hasn't evoked such concern since Janet Jackson sang at the Super Bowl.
A Chicago-area beach has established a child-free zone, leaving some people to wonder if children aren't welcome on a beach, where are they welcome?
And a brouhaha over a toddler on a plane has pitted adults who want the right to travel with their kids, against adults who want the right to travel in peace.
The debate on the Internet has been bitter - the term "Kids on a Plane" has been bandied about, a wry reference to the horror flick, "Snakes on a Plane." There has been a lot of bickering over the child-centered approach of modern parents, and countless arguments - from both sides of the aisle - for family sections on airplanes.
Clearly, the subject of children in public spaces is touching a cultural nerve.
Earlier this month, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a law stating that a mother "shall be permitted to breast-feed her child in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be present, irrespective of whether or not the mother's breast is covered."
Breast-feeding advocates felt the law didn't go far enough to protect nursing mothers. Other Pennsylvanians, quoted by the media, argued for the virtue of covering up in public - which was ironic, because the new law was inspired by a mother who refused to nurse behind a blanket at a Wyomissing mall.
Alicia Benson, a Manheim Township mother of two daughters, ages 6 months and 2½ years, was appalled that a law was even necessary. A law protecting the right of a child to be fed is akin to a law protecting a person's right to breathe, she said.
"Women have been so sexualized. ... That's what society thinks our breasts are for - to sell beer," Benson said, adding dryly, "They do have a much more valuable purpose."
Moreover, she said, children have the right to eat whenever and wherever necessary. "Children are people, too," Benson said. "They're not a problem to be managed."
Tell that to the residents of Lake Forest, Ill., a moneyed community north of Chicago, which has an almost-mile-long public beach on Lake Michigan.
A quarter of that beach just has been declared off-limits to anyone under 21, because some grown-ups wanted peace and quiet.
Alissa Booth, a West Hempfield Township mother of two, said she was dismayed by the idea of whole categories of people being banned from public places. Imagine if Disney World, for instance, decided to admit only families, Booth mused. "Do you know how many of my single friends go to Disney World?"
Bernard Beck, an associate professor emeritus at Northwestern University, told the Chicago Tribune that it's becoming OK to ask for child-free areas.
"It didn't use to be respectable to speak out in public in ways that were anti-child or anti-family, but now that sort of talk is very acceptable," Beck asserted.
David Eggebeen, associate professor of human development and sociology at Penn State University, said that while there hasn't been a significant increase in the numbers of women who don't bear children, more couples are putting off childbearing until their mid to late 20s, and they are limiting the number of children to one or two.
Combine these factors with an increased "active" life expectancy, Eggebeen said in an e-mail, and what you have are grown-ups who are living more of their adult years free from dealing directly with children.
Given all of this, he said, "It is not too surprising that there are more 'child free' segments of public life and the economy. There is a critical mass of adults now that seek the company of other adults, seek entertainment, seek space apart from children."
In 2005, a Chicago bakery sparked a furor after it posted a sign reading, "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when they come to A Taste of Heaven."
No such outcry has been generated by a sign near the cash register of Coffee Bean, a coffee shop in a Giant Food Store on Jonestown Road in Harrisburg. This sign reads: "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."
Gene Nebinger, owner of Coffee Bean, and the father of two grown daughters, said people - parents included - laugh at the sign. Occasionally, an older child will ask how much they have to misbehave in order to qualify for a coffee and a puppy.
In two years, the sign hasn't elicited one negative response. "It makes the point," Nebinger said, "but it's not scolding anyone."
Sarah Forgione, co-owner of Gymboree Play & Music in Granite Run Square, said she understands her responsibility as a parent to make sure her kids behave in public.
"I understand, I don't want to go to a five-star restaurant and be seated next to five screaming toddlers," she said.
She said that most reasonable parents know that if their child is having a tantrum in a restaurant, and will not be soothed, "it's time to ask for a doggie bag and try again next week."
Still, she said, kids have to be allowed to be kids - and grown-ups should show some consideration in tough situations. "Anyone who has had children, or has had nieces or nephews or brothers or sisters, needs to put themselves in the parent's place," Forgione said.
Alissa Booth said she and her family recently had lunch at a Lancaster restaurant, where the staff made it plain that they weren't happy about the presence of her 17-month-old son. "He wasn't crying," she said. "He was giggling. ... They were pretty rude."
Booth balked at the notion of having to remove her child the minute he squirms or makes a noise. "If you give in to your child and take them out every time they start fussing, what is that teaching them?" she asked.
Her 7-year-old daughter, she said, is "wonderful in restaurants," because she's been eating out since she was a toddler.
Booth said she and her husband travel regularly with their children. "I think it's really important that children learn to be adaptable," she said.
Booth has had mostly good experiences flying with her daughter. Generally, it is not the kids on a plane, but the grown-ups, that Booth said she finds annoying.
On one long flight, a large man sitting next to her propped "his stinky feet on the arm rest," Booth said, noting, "I would rather have had a kid slamming his tray into the back of my seat."
Airplane travel, to be sure, can be challenging, especially in this summer of discontent, when much of the news is about lengthy delays and extra security checks and fraying nerves. Against this backdrop, the debate over children on planes is being waged.
Last month, an Atlanta woman named Kate Penland and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were kicked off a Continental ExpressJet flight out of Houston.
In TV interviews, Kate Penland said that a flight attendant became annoyed when Garren kept saying, "Bye, bye plane," over and over again, during the safety demonstration. Penland said the flight attendant said,
"'OK, it's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.'"
According to Penland's account, the flight attendant said, " 'It's called Baby Benadryl.' "
Penland bristled at the suggestion that she medicate her child, to keep him quiet.
The flight attendant reportedly told the pilot Penland had threatened her, and the plane was returned to the gate. Other passengers attempted to intercede on Penland's behalf, but she and her toddler were ordered off the plane.
The incident touched off a firestorm on the Web.
"Can somebody please start a child-free airline?" wrote one of the more polite posters, to the online magazine, Salon. "Or, at the very least, can parents with kids be seated in a separate section of the aircraft?"
Another common complaint in cyberspace: That today's parents seem to think the world revolves around their kids.
In interviews last week, area parents said they pined for play areas in airports, so that children waiting through long delays had a place to work out some of their pent-up energy. Clean diaper-changing facilities can be hard to find, they said, even at restaurants aimed at families. And family bathrooms are few and far between.
Given the difficulties that parents can encounter taking their children to public places, a little understanding would go a long way, they said.
"All of us are children at one point," said local mom Alicia Benson. "I don't know if people forget that."
So the gist is , in Chicago some places are taking steps to ensure a childfree, or anti-child atmosphere.
"A Chicago-area beach has established a child-free zone, leaving some people to wonder if
children aren't welcome on a beach, where are they welcome?"
There is also talk of childfree restaurants and airlines/flights/ a family section on planes.
How do you feel about this idea? Great for families? Or is it oppression?
How do you feel about business owners putting up signs like "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when they come to A Taste of Heaven."
and "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."
They're not about to suffer little children
Child-free zones are popping up, along with nasty looks to let parents know the kids aren’t welcome
By SUZANNE CASSIDY, Staff writer
Sunday News
Published: Jul 22, 2007 12:17 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Americans like to think they live in a pro-child, family-friendly culture, but it seems that some people are pining for a return to the days when children were seen but not heard.
And some Americans, it seems, would prefer that children not even be seen.
In recent weeks, a series of controversies has raised questions about American attitudes toward children.
A new Pennsylvania law declaring that mothers should be permitted to breast-feed in public was met with pleas for moms to cover up while nursing; the subject of bared breasts hasn't evoked such concern since Janet Jackson sang at the Super Bowl.
A Chicago-area beach has established a child-free zone, leaving some people to wonder if children aren't welcome on a beach, where are they welcome?
And a brouhaha over a toddler on a plane has pitted adults who want the right to travel with their kids, against adults who want the right to travel in peace.
The debate on the Internet has been bitter - the term "Kids on a Plane" has been bandied about, a wry reference to the horror flick, "Snakes on a Plane." There has been a lot of bickering over the child-centered approach of modern parents, and countless arguments - from both sides of the aisle - for family sections on airplanes.
Clearly, the subject of children in public spaces is touching a cultural nerve.
Earlier this month, Gov. Ed Rendell signed a law stating that a mother "shall be permitted to breast-feed her child in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be present, irrespective of whether or not the mother's breast is covered."
Breast-feeding advocates felt the law didn't go far enough to protect nursing mothers. Other Pennsylvanians, quoted by the media, argued for the virtue of covering up in public - which was ironic, because the new law was inspired by a mother who refused to nurse behind a blanket at a Wyomissing mall.
Alicia Benson, a Manheim Township mother of two daughters, ages 6 months and 2½ years, was appalled that a law was even necessary. A law protecting the right of a child to be fed is akin to a law protecting a person's right to breathe, she said.
"Women have been so sexualized. ... That's what society thinks our breasts are for - to sell beer," Benson said, adding dryly, "They do have a much more valuable purpose."
Moreover, she said, children have the right to eat whenever and wherever necessary. "Children are people, too," Benson said. "They're not a problem to be managed."
Tell that to the residents of Lake Forest, Ill., a moneyed community north of Chicago, which has an almost-mile-long public beach on Lake Michigan.
A quarter of that beach just has been declared off-limits to anyone under 21, because some grown-ups wanted peace and quiet.
Alissa Booth, a West Hempfield Township mother of two, said she was dismayed by the idea of whole categories of people being banned from public places. Imagine if Disney World, for instance, decided to admit only families, Booth mused. "Do you know how many of my single friends go to Disney World?"
Bernard Beck, an associate professor emeritus at Northwestern University, told the Chicago Tribune that it's becoming OK to ask for child-free areas.
"It didn't use to be respectable to speak out in public in ways that were anti-child or anti-family, but now that sort of talk is very acceptable," Beck asserted.
David Eggebeen, associate professor of human development and sociology at Penn State University, said that while there hasn't been a significant increase in the numbers of women who don't bear children, more couples are putting off childbearing until their mid to late 20s, and they are limiting the number of children to one or two.
Combine these factors with an increased "active" life expectancy, Eggebeen said in an e-mail, and what you have are grown-ups who are living more of their adult years free from dealing directly with children.
Given all of this, he said, "It is not too surprising that there are more 'child free' segments of public life and the economy. There is a critical mass of adults now that seek the company of other adults, seek entertainment, seek space apart from children."
In 2005, a Chicago bakery sparked a furor after it posted a sign reading, "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when they come to A Taste of Heaven."
No such outcry has been generated by a sign near the cash register of Coffee Bean, a coffee shop in a Giant Food Store on Jonestown Road in Harrisburg. This sign reads: "Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy."
Gene Nebinger, owner of Coffee Bean, and the father of two grown daughters, said people - parents included - laugh at the sign. Occasionally, an older child will ask how much they have to misbehave in order to qualify for a coffee and a puppy.
In two years, the sign hasn't elicited one negative response. "It makes the point," Nebinger said, "but it's not scolding anyone."
Sarah Forgione, co-owner of Gymboree Play & Music in Granite Run Square, said she understands her responsibility as a parent to make sure her kids behave in public.
"I understand, I don't want to go to a five-star restaurant and be seated next to five screaming toddlers," she said.
She said that most reasonable parents know that if their child is having a tantrum in a restaurant, and will not be soothed, "it's time to ask for a doggie bag and try again next week."
Still, she said, kids have to be allowed to be kids - and grown-ups should show some consideration in tough situations. "Anyone who has had children, or has had nieces or nephews or brothers or sisters, needs to put themselves in the parent's place," Forgione said.
Alissa Booth said she and her family recently had lunch at a Lancaster restaurant, where the staff made it plain that they weren't happy about the presence of her 17-month-old son. "He wasn't crying," she said. "He was giggling. ... They were pretty rude."
Booth balked at the notion of having to remove her child the minute he squirms or makes a noise. "If you give in to your child and take them out every time they start fussing, what is that teaching them?" she asked.
Her 7-year-old daughter, she said, is "wonderful in restaurants," because she's been eating out since she was a toddler.
Booth said she and her husband travel regularly with their children. "I think it's really important that children learn to be adaptable," she said.
Booth has had mostly good experiences flying with her daughter. Generally, it is not the kids on a plane, but the grown-ups, that Booth said she finds annoying.
On one long flight, a large man sitting next to her propped "his stinky feet on the arm rest," Booth said, noting, "I would rather have had a kid slamming his tray into the back of my seat."
Airplane travel, to be sure, can be challenging, especially in this summer of discontent, when much of the news is about lengthy delays and extra security checks and fraying nerves. Against this backdrop, the debate over children on planes is being waged.
Last month, an Atlanta woman named Kate Penland and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were kicked off a Continental ExpressJet flight out of Houston.
In TV interviews, Kate Penland said that a flight attendant became annoyed when Garren kept saying, "Bye, bye plane," over and over again, during the safety demonstration. Penland said the flight attendant said,
"'OK, it's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.'"
According to Penland's account, the flight attendant said, " 'It's called Baby Benadryl.' "
Penland bristled at the suggestion that she medicate her child, to keep him quiet.
The flight attendant reportedly told the pilot Penland had threatened her, and the plane was returned to the gate. Other passengers attempted to intercede on Penland's behalf, but she and her toddler were ordered off the plane.
The incident touched off a firestorm on the Web.
"Can somebody please start a child-free airline?" wrote one of the more polite posters, to the online magazine, Salon. "Or, at the very least, can parents with kids be seated in a separate section of the aircraft?"
Another common complaint in cyberspace: That today's parents seem to think the world revolves around their kids.
In interviews last week, area parents said they pined for play areas in airports, so that children waiting through long delays had a place to work out some of their pent-up energy. Clean diaper-changing facilities can be hard to find, they said, even at restaurants aimed at families. And family bathrooms are few and far between.
Given the difficulties that parents can encounter taking their children to public places, a little understanding would go a long way, they said.
"All of us are children at one point," said local mom Alicia Benson. "I don't know if people forget that."