Comments on: Kids in breweries – Wrong or right?

By: Josh Quick

Josh Quick — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:49:02 +0000

Sounds good Tim I will have a comic reply in relation to these comics in a week or so and let you know when it’s up.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:15:01 +0000

That’s the beauty of living in this country. We get to disagree. Still, in the hopes of encouraging conversation and maybe finding a meeting point, some reasons for disagreeing would be helpful. Also, more out of curiosity than anything else, I’d like to know what sort of spiked your interest in the topic. Did you have a bad experience with a kid in a taproom? Taprooms didn’t exist when you were a kid, so you can’t really make the argument that something from childhood affected you. The taproom idea is relatively new in the grand scheme of things, and it’s difficult to both defend them or to chastise them thoroughly on the topic of kids at this point. Though the cartoon did a fair job of criticism, it’d be good to know what school of thought you come from and what drives your disagreement.

Thanks,

Tim

By: Josh Quick

Josh Quick — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:08:21 +0000

Yet I still completely disagree.

By: Josh Quick

Josh Quick — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:58:43 +0000

The arguments for Kids being in breweries so far according to the comments are:

1.Fast Food Chains, Grocery Stores & Video Stores are more dangerous than breweries.
2.Taking kids to restaurants with full liquor license is no different than a brewery.
3.Breweries are great family gathering places because they’re unique.
4.The patrons can only drink 3 pints – profanity/negative behavior are not tolerated in breweries.
5.Manually lifting a pint of beer and pouring into the mouth in the environment from which it is made is good modeling for kids. Thus, the beverage will not be considered taboo and make it less likely the child will seek it out.
6.Kids are cool in a brewery as long as they don’t run into the adults to avoid spilling their beverages.
7.Kids are cool in a brewery as they don’t kick the back of the adults booth.

I feel as though my comic covered all of these in a positive manor, minus the spilling and kicking sector. Also the dangerous dangerous grocery store, video store & Fast Food weren’t covered. Turns out there’s much more to this issue than I ever considered.

By: Tim Akimoff

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:11:15 +0000

Good point Sandra. I guess the only thing I would say is that Montana taprooms must close by 8 p.m. Kids tend to be present in the earlier hours, and if we (parents) want to take our kids somewhere, it has to be during those early hours of the evening. Segregating only works to a point, especially when I want to connect with my friends who are single or those, like you, who’ve decided not to have kids. Believe me, I can see the pain in their eyes when the kids are especially wound up or obnoxious, which is usually exacerbated by copious amounts of sugar in the root beer or ginger ale. But given the choice of having a beer at home or going out with kids in tow even for an hour or two, I’d take being able to go out. Something about the little suburban turnips we’ve turned into. Because we can’t afford to live in the city center, we tend to seek out social opportunities that the taproom offer. I would say that if it’s ever my child kicking the back of your booth, I hope you stand up and give me a good bawling out. Parents who take their children out in public need to be aware that taprooms are a place for social interaction. They are not McDonalds play areas. People without kids should be able to stand up for their right to relax and enjoy the neighborhood taproom too.

Thanks,

Tim

By: Sandra

Sandra — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:18:47 +0000

I come at this from a slightly different angle. I agree that if you consume alcohol, then you should raise your kids to understand proper and improper consumption. That includes having them around when you’re imbibing, always in moderation of course. However, my husband and I don’t have kids, don’t plan on having kids, and enjoy the times we can go out with friends (who are also excited to have a “night out” sans offspring) and not have to worry about an enjoyable environment being marred by other people’s ill-behaved progeny. So I’m kind of torn on this issue: I don’t think it’s morally wrong to allow kids in taprooms, but I’d prefer that they not be kicking the back of MY booth. I appreciate the brewpubs in Seattle that have “family sections” that allow everyone to enjoy in their own way.

By: Gerard Walen

Gerard Walen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:31:29 +0000

I have taken my daughter (6 years old currently) to breweries and taprooms. She’s a fairly well-behaved child, if I may brag. She realizes that beer is “Daddy’s drink,” and has shown no desire to emulate me at this time. She enjoys the root beers and other soft drinks that some venues make available for her.
I would rather have her see beer as a “grown up” drink that is consumed responsibly rather than a “forbidden fruit” that she will be unnaturally curious about and want to experiment with at a too-early age.
And as David said, there are many other venues that offer alcohol where children are present, so what’s the difference?

By: Dan Hathaway

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:50:06 +0000

The only issue I take with it is when parents let their kids run around like it was a play pen. Doesn’t bother me in the least that they are in the tap room, until a little tyke runs into my leg and makes me spill some tasty brew!

By: Josh Quick

Josh Quick — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:32:26 +0000

Correction: quickjosh.blogspot is my comic blog quickjosh.com is my website.

By: Glass Bottles

Glass Bottles — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:31:08 +0000

I can see both sides of the issue. It is a matter of who and where it occurring. I would probably agree with the position that with the right supervision it is alright!