Comments on: Babies in bars

By: Jonathan Kandell

Jonathan Kandell — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:16:04 +0000

Like most of you above, I don’t agree with this article. I think it revolves around the culture in which you were raised, and whether you and your family had a healthy or dysfunctional relationship with alcohol. In my culture (judaism), I grew up around alcohol at shabat, celebrations. There was even a holiday (Simchat Torah) where the adults are _commanded_ to get wasted. Seeing a rabbi in drag once a year took away the stigma, frankly. Alcohol is just alcohol. Alcoholism is a very different thing. Likewise, in my family, no one ever got drunk in the bad sense– and at age 46 neither do I. I got drunk at my Bachelor Party, and I sometimes drink to get a buzz at the end of a hard day to drown out the memory of my son’s screaming; but there is nothing not 100% life-affirming, family-friendly, etc. Like Julie I prefer home-made fresh beer to bottled stale shit. (Rather than the latter, I’d rather just drink juice or a tamarindo.) This author is being somewhat egocentric–assuming everyone at the bar is just like her. Why would one assume that?

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:18:15 +0000

Kate, I love you.

Well, you know really like what you have to say anyway.

By: Beth

Beth — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:05:46 +0000

If I’m not mistaken my family including the 1 year old and the 9 year old had a moderate amount of brews with you and S at the Brewery last summer when we were in town. Having a long history of bartending under my belt I have seen the horrible, irresponsible drunk parent in the bar twice in twenty years and one table top diaper change (UGH) but I have seen many more responsible adults enjoy an evening that include a few drinks. I agree with the other posters that the trick is to know the bar/pub/brewhouse, know the crowd that’s usually there at any given time, know your kids and their limits, and it goes without saying know yours and drink responsibly. Again, use that common sense.

PS I didn’t bother to read the article that inspired your story, I figured it would just make me angry.

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:07:52 +0000

Hey, just catching up with everyone’s comments. Zachary’s, yes. Gotta add Time Market, now that one can have a nip there, too. Good thing my office is moving several blocks away from its current location next door to TM after the kidlet arrives, or I’d probably succumb to a weekday Mad Men-style wine with pastrami lunch now and then.

Weirdly, now that we are temporarily stuck in the NW ‘burbs, I’m noticing more places up there that are family- and adult beverage-friendly–and I’m not counting chains. These joints might not be as hip as places in town, but they do seem to echo that Barrio Brewing vibe. Interesting, and kind of unexpected, at least by me.

I agree with everybody that I’d love to see more continental attitudes toward social space, families, and adult beverages. Chicago clearly has New York’s Park Slope beat on this score! I asked a pal in Chicago if she had witnessed or experienced anything similar to that kind of tension and she was stumped. She did have her own list of places to meet friends and have a drink that were kid-friendly. Navy Pier on a September Saturday at my last visit was full of strollers and beer garden denizens, all apparently getting along quite well.

Julie, I swear I can see us in the mirror sharing that lipstick in the remodeled BR at Congress. Back when the Tasha mural was still on the east(ish?) wall.

How about a Tucson Mama app, period, with sub-categories: Great Shoes and They Treat Your Kid Well; Makeup Ladies Who Don’t Look at You with Barely Concealed Condescension; Next Best Things to a Beer Garden in Heidelberg…

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:03:17 +0000

Kate, I appreciate your input as not-yet-with-baby-in-tow, and as someone with whom I shared much single-gal-Tucson-bartime, even if we weren’t quite aware of it at the time. Common sense indeed.

And yes, beer gardens! They are all about families.

Back to Tucson: Zachary’s a resounding YES (it’s sure as hell not a date place!), Deadwood NO.

Let’s get going on that Tucson bar app…