It’s November. Which means NaBloPoMo. Let’s see what happens when I force myself to blog every day for a month, shall we?
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Oh dear. Not even 10 days in, and I’ve failed to post every day. And my excuse for missing yesterday isn’t even that great: we were at the pub.
We went out for dinner last night with some friends at their local, which is everything a good English pub should be: good food, friendly staff, and a steady stream of regulars of every age.
This is one of the things I really like about the UK. And Europe in general, really. Kids are just accepted as part of life. I remember Maggie at Mighty Girl saying something similar about Barcelona earlier this year.
It’s so different from the ‘Child Friendliness’ cues I remember from Vancouver. Everywhere I’ve been with Isaac in North America, there has been a very overt display of whether a place is “For People With Children Along” or “Totally Unsuitable for Children Period.” The former will always have high chairs, kids’ menus, change tables. If it doesn’t have any of those things, it’s a pretty big signal that children are not welcome. Case in point: I caught wind of a big brouhaha in Vancouver over the Earls High Chair Controversy. My lands, the drama.
Conversely, here, there are certainly a large number of places who offer all the kid-friendly accouterments you could ever wish for, and just as many that don’t, that are equally welcoming to kids. We’ve been to places with absolutely zero indications of kid-friendliness that have been super excellent in terms of interacting with Isaac and serving up a kid-sized meal, and others that have some high-chairs and things, but were clearly waiting for us to finish up quickly and go.
Some pubs and restaurants are more welcoming to families than others. Some say no kids after 6pm, some 9pm, some don’t care. Still others leave it up to your discretion. Nobody’s going to complain about a family with some kids at 6pm on a quiet Tuesday evening, but might give you the stink-eye if you want to bring your noisy brood in at 8pm on a Friday.
I am still often in awe, though, of all the places we see kids and it’s just no big thang.
Last year, Neil and I headed out to one of the Ashmolean’s Live Friday Events. It was interesting, to say the least, to contrast with my experience of similar events or activities in Vancouver
I find things in Vancouver to be very segmented by clique. Activities are attended almost solely by either older, upper-crust patrons of the arts, 20- and 30-somethings without kids (whether they’ve left them at home that night, or don’t have any at all), or families. Very few things cater to, or are attended by, all three, all at once.
At the Ashmolean, in addition to the roving hordes of students (this is a university town after all), I witnessed a number of grey-hairs rocking out to the jump-jazz-calypso band, loads of other adults from 18-80, a number of kids in the 5-15 category, plenty of babes in slings, and at least one toddler dashing about. And everyone was having a fine time.
Alcohol was sold on-premise throughout the event, kids were kept mostly under control by their parents. Anything incredibly precious was behind barriers or glass, but there were plenty of sharp, breakable and otherwise potentially ‘unsafe’ or ‘delicate’ things about that weren’t smashed to smithereens. And as far as I know, nobody or nothing exploded.
It was just, people. All out for an evening’s entertainment.
So, back to last night. The pub was fairly quiet. Isaac was entertained by a combination of the cars and crayons we brought, the staff wandering around with him and plying him with chocolates, and some other girls of about 6 or 7 who thought he was cute and hilarious to parade around.
And the fact that none of that was out of the ordinary is still extraordinary to me.
Sounds downright heavenly!
Hmmm: the only place I’ve ever found in California that wasn’t kid-friendly, was a Spanish tapas restaurant/bar run by an immigrant from Gibraltar. I presume that ultra-expensive $200-a-head restaurants aren’t kid-friendly either, but I’ve never attempted to bring kids to any of them 🙂
Jen, we notice the same thing here in Amsterdam. If it’s a sunny evening, then everyone is out having a drink on a patio, from kids to 90 somethings. It’s so much more inclusive socialality (made up word?). I also love here how daddys are seen taking kids out just as much as mommies…. So much more inclusive social lives in my view. +1 Europe
I remember being gobsmacked in Provence that my two month old infant was welcome everywhere we went – even the Michelin-starred restaurant that had toddlers and kids at every table since we were there so early. (7pm)
Our server offered to hold the baby while I ate. Everywhere we went in Paris, same thing. Kids are part of life, they come with you, and there’s no fuss about kid-friendly menus and accoutrements. And the kids were well-behaved, too. I guess when they’re used to being out in company, they behave like they’re used to it.
I vastly prefer that to being relegated to the Chucky Cheese years in North America. We’re rebels, we take Imp with us everywhere. Early, so as not to overlap with dating couples; we’re not assholes. 🙂