Kids in pubs

[Vaud]

Pothole said:

agree, with you and the OP. Pubs are for over 18s

Bit harsh. If you are going to take a draconian view, how about "for people that are old enough to work"... why exclude a 16 year old (ok they cant drink but they can socialise)?

[Johnnytheboy]

surveyor said:

It used to be that we could not go out with my wife's sister as her kids behaved so bloody badly. We could take our daughter pretty much anywhere.

She thought we (I) were too strict in the way that we brought up our kids, and the fact that they would bloody sit still in public when appropriate.

That's a lot of the problem - many of parents seem to think that stopping their children being an annoyance to others is somehow curtailing their right to express themselves, or some such nonsense.

Whereas it's simply bad manners.

[havoc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You don't have kids, do you? And I don't mean that in a patronising manner, more "I thought like that 5 years ago...now I've got a comparatively well behaved boy who occasionally (when he wants to / when he's tired / when he's wound up by a friend) can be as easy to control as a herd of cats high on catnip."


I wonder if the OP was where we were yesterday lunchtime with friends. End of a kids party at a pub (partybus outside), us 2 families decided to hang around for a bite to eat and for a proper catch-up. 4 adults, 1 8y.o. (very well behaved), 2 4y.o.'s high on sugar and 2 hours of playtime. Keeping the two younger ones quiet-ish and under control became increasingly difficult as they were just 'on one' - twice each they were taken to one side and told very firmly to behave, third occasion we effectively packed up, paid the bill and left a bit earlier than we'd have liked - we both expected tantrums at this but thankfully didn't get them.
In the meantime they did start running around a little and getting louder, and to some they would have been an annoyance...
...so the million-dollar question is where do you draw the line?
- Never go anywhere out of embarassment / fear of upsetting a Victor Meldrew at the drop of a crayon;
- Go where you like, let the kids let off steam, sod everyone else?
- Or somewhere in the middle? And who decides what is far enough???


As others have said, there are plenty of other groups that can be annoying in pubs. Most people who've had a few, to be honest - been there myself, defy pretty much anyone on this thread to claim they haven't. In all cases it's a matter of degree, and of the level of control by parents / mates as appropriate. And of a level of tolerance from others - you're in a public place, deal with it!