I heart Matt Hawkins. If I weren't married, I would totally track him down and love him up! 
I agree...you have to read the article. It's hilarious in it's ridiculous, self-important personal stories of "discrimination"
Okay, so we're having lunch there together when?
It's fucking common sense, if the restaurant can accommodate strollers, it can't accommodate strollers.
On a slightly related note, one of my friends said that he was bringing his (okay, I'm saying, badly behaved) child to our other friend's wedding. He already admited that the child can't sit still for 5 minutes, but somehow thinks that he can handle a 50 minute Greek Orthodox wedding. Now, we're not talking about a child that 'fusses', we're talking screaming, throwing toys child - who had two grandmas at home willing to babysit.
I'm not anti-kids and really I don't have a problem with kids at weddings because it is a family thing and I enjoyed the kids and babies there. But if you know your child can't handle a situation, why bring them? Why can't you admit your child's limitations?
Ok...here's the thing. I think that it's incumbent on the bride and groom to enjoy listening to someone's screaming, tantrumming toddler over their vows on their $2000 wedding video. It's a memory to be cherished for a lifetime.
Amen! I so agree with you. I love Pulp Kitchen and I'll be right with you making a reservation. I love the dad you quoted. I love to see kids in restaurants provided that parents realize it isn't a playground. How does idiot mom make the leap from a tiny restaurant not wanting strollers inside to mothers being unwelcome? Friends of mine own a high-end restaurant and they take their children out to dine, but their kids certainly don't cause scenes. They were taught what was/wasn't appropriate in restaurants. Why can't parents learn the same?
Maybe you, me, and Glacia need eat there to give them the support they deserve for standing up for the consideration of others
Agree 100%. I get compliments on my child when I'm out because he's so well behaved, and that happens when I think he's being a little too loud even. People's standards are so low. I find it unbelievable the things kids get away with these days. And I agree that most of it is lack of discipline and actual parenting. Rules no longer exist, because people don't want to "limit" their child or are too lazy with their own lives to pay any attention to what they should be responsible for.
Also - 100% agree it is a North American thing.
Also - because this topic makes me so incensed - I think that strollers have become too common place and are used as a way to reduce the need to parent by too many people.
What happened to the told fashioned method of carrying your child?
What about having them walk?
People don't have the patience to stroll with a child learning to walk or interested in stopping to see anything - or they don't want to have the inconvenience of having a child in their arms/in a carrier. Yes, there are circumstances where people have mobility issues, illnesses where they can not easily carry their children - but strollers are overused.
I think any restaurant who bans them inside is warranted and GOOD FOR THEM. They should also be banned on all public transportation IMO (buses at least - since we don't have subway here, I can't speak for how much of a hassle they are there), as they are not safe and more problematic than they are worth. On that note, one of the things that really gets my goat is when people who are carrying strollers onto a bus with stairs EXPECT other people to help them. Look - I'm a nice person. I give up my seat, help people, hold doors, do favours, etc. But you chose to bring that big piece of metal onto the bus when you could have carried your child on your chest or back. You are choosing to leave your child in an unrestrained metal contraption instead of holding them securely in your arms. Carry it yourself.
Sorry - makes me fume just thinking about it.
I know that stroller companies, just like diaper companies want to keep your kid in them for as long as possible, but there really ought to be an age limit to strollers. I've seen more than my share of 5 year olds touring around town in a stroller with their feet dragging on the ground or practically tucked under their chins. But then, we're a society that is starting to use those stupid two wheel scooters to get around, so what do you expect?
PS: I love that hipster mum who reckoned her dragging her big honkin' stroller onto the Queen streetcar as "payback" to all those people who didn't offer her a seat while she was pregnant. Talk about spoiled brat entitlement syndrome.
i don't think i got thru half of that article without rolling my eyes multiple times. i can assure you that as a kid who grew up in the burbs, who will most likely end up in "coolsville" i will most certainly not be afraid (should i choose to litter the earth with spawn) to give my pollywogs a talking to. perhaps, even *gasp* a hot lash? lol
by my mother's accounts i was not an unruly or unmannerly child. i was also deathly afraid of her, not because she was mean (she was not), but becuase her hands were HOT. that woman could dash a lash in a backside like nobody's business. and if i got "the look," at anytime during the course of the day, i knew that i was gonna be dead by dinner. lol
there are a lot of these new agey parents at yonge & eglinton too. i want to dump them and their snot-nosed, privileged, baby-gucci wearing offspring into blue boxes.
Listen, don't even get me started. Last night, the mister and me were at the mall and we passed two parents negotiating with their 9 or 10 year old in front of a computer gaming store. The kid was all sulky and on the verge of pitching a fit. We laughed about that, because I'll tell you how it would have gone with my mother:
"Now, for shur you no gonna get it!
You show me det face van more time an you gonna pay!"
...and then if I didn't quit my sulking, I'd get a shamar.
Please.
I love how so many parents have to justify to their kids why they're not spending their hard earned money on shit that will be in the back of the closet in a months time. Video games are not found at the dollar store. Many are upwards of $100. I don't think a parent needs to be negotiating that shit with a 9 year old.
I'm a mom and I agree with you Radmila. I get so irritated with people who let their kids run wild. Not only is it annoying, but it sets a bad example for my kids. My 4 year old son and 2 year old daughter are both in the "monkey see, monkey do" stage. If there's a kid who is getting away with holy hell, my kids want to give it a shot, too. I quickly reprimand, and they give me the most confused look.
One thing I'm sick of is getting the stink-eye from people when I actually do discipline my children. I had some tree-hugging, hemp wearing, hippy moron follow me through a grocery store and "keep an eye on me" because I had the audacity to put my hand on my child's shoulder and physically made her sit her down in the cart...gasp. How dare I tell my child to straighten up?!? I was damn near calling store security on this girl when I realized that she had called them on me! Every time I turned, the security guard was watching me. Nothing came of it, of course, because by the time security began surveilling me, my kids were back to well behaved angels and I was shopping as normal.
Ohhhh, how I hate those self-righteous (usually childless) people who view even raising your voice as child abuse. Just looking for the opportunity to stick their noses in
Situations like the one Loaki site make me fume. I hate seeing or hearing children get a talking to because I'm embarrassed for them just like the next person with a heart, but the truth is kids do get out of control because it's their nature to push the boundaries and test the waters at every possible opportunity. That's how they learn and grow and find out where the limits are, and as anyone who has been around children know, they crave and need limits and boundaries. Good for you, Loaki, for taking the time and effort to set your child straight about what is and isn't acceptable behaviour in public or in general. I wish more parents would do this. It's not that I hate kids, but rather their lackluster parents.
Dalia brought up "the look." Although my mother only hit me once in my lifetime that I can recall, she employed her look all.the.freakin'.time! She raised seven of us on her own, in the roughest housing projects in my hometown at the time, and her only weapon was fear of consequences. We were told what she expected from us before we left the house, and if any of us acted up, we were all brought home. By mob pressure, we all kept it in check because we loved our outtings. They were so few and far between. It was a treat to be brought out in public with our mother. Today's kids are brought everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. There are no boundaries, no inappropriate places, no adult only situations (beyond sex, that is). Today's kids are being raised in coffee shops, boutiques, wine bars, bookstores, grocery stores (clearly, as evidenced by the hippy's stalking), and upscale, high-end restaurants. The ridiculous part of all this is that I can clearly recall my mother dying to get out and do adult things to get away from us. She rarely did, but she savoured every second of it. Why do these hipster parents have to do every last little thing with their kids? Don't the get sick of their kids, too? Don't they need some rest and change of scenery, too? I don't get them. My former SIL and my brother forced one of other my brothers to change his wedding plans so they could bring her three kids to the whole wedding from start to finish. Previously the wedding was an adult affair. My older brother told my younger brother he wouldn't attend if his kids couldn't go. My younger brother buckled, and the kids were allowed to attend. They were the only kids there. They had to make their own fun because they didn't have any friends or cousins to hang out with. They were completely bored all night long. I felt so bad for them, and my younger brother and his new bride. It's not about the kids as the hipster will tell you, it's about them. It's all about them - their needs, their wants and their desires. It's as if you suddenly forget about everyone else the second your spawn comes out of the womb. It's bullshit, and I'm glad there are lots of us who are calling these hipster parents on it!
Hear, hear
well I for one am not trying to be the hip parent. There are places I know I cant go with two year old so either one of us stays home and watches the kid and the other goes or we both just go somewhere else. its that simple
Oh and just for the record regarding strollers and age limits. I think strollers have become more for the parents convenience than anything these days. Its easier to deal with a kid in a stroller than one squirming out of your grasp in a high traffic area. Plus in the diaper/pullups stage there's still a heap of crap you tote around just for the child and having a stroller with a nice spot underneath for the luggage helps.
Thats what I think is the logic behind some of these 5 year olds in strollers. With us the stroller is getting less and less use unless we know its going to be a long walk trip for our child. (Apparently I make him walk too far on weekends but thats another story)
I saw a lady on the bus yesterday with a 4 year old and a stroller and thought she had a baby in the stroller. when she was exiting i realized the kid in the stroller was bigger than the one walking with her lol.
Tacno.
And I think I'm in love with Matt Hawkins.
I came here via Snooze's post on the topic of bad parenting. Your post and reader comments are terrific.
I am a childless Torontonian, and although I certainly sympathize with the daily challenges faced by urban parents, it would be great to see more common courtesy from them in public places.
I have blogged about various bad parent experiences on the subway, in restaurants, movie theaters, and worst of all....people who bring their children to adult parties after a specific and respectful request from the host asking them NOT to! Sometimes the problem with hipster parents is that they don't want to give up the lifestyle they enjoyed before having children, and that's obviously Step 1 of becoming a good parent.
I think that your last paragraph hit the nail on the head.
So, while there's this whole self-righteous thing going on with the hipsters, they expect others to do the sacrificing for them. Listen, if you have kids, you life changes. Period. Get over it and be a parent. To be a good parent you have to give up some of the being cool thing
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