This kind of story bugs me. I’m all for children, and children-friendly institutions. But not everyone has to be. If you want your restaurant, or movie theatre, or campground, or what have you, to be an adult-only place, you should be able to do so. (You should also be allowed to operate a smoking restaurant or bar or what have you.) Maybe your business won’t work, and maybe it will. It should be up to you, to business owner, to decide whether the benefits outweighs the costs. Just make the rules clear to everyone, and be nice about it, is all. Sometimes, you pay good money to eat a fancy meal at a fancy restaurant and you want to be able to enjoy that without children running around (that’s why parents hire babysitters every now and then).








Unfortunately, if there’s one thing I’ve learned quickly about Canada since moving here, it’s that property rights practically don’t exist, especially for business owners.
The other thing that annoys me is that they resort to going to a human rights tribunal. If this is such a big problem, then get the word out and let basic economics take care of the restaurant. Either there is market for people who want adult-only restaurants or there isn’t. If so many people are unhappy about this situation, the restaurant will fail all on its own. If there really is a market for it, then let people have the restaurant they want. Why should a population who want an adult-only restaurant not be allowed to have one just because of one family who isn’t happy about it and decided to send in human rights lawyers? What is this, “if I can’t have my way, then NOBODY can!”?
I’m on the fence about this one. A three-month-old is a kid who, for the most part, will sleep for the duration of the party. And if Mum is nursing, or baby won’t take a bottle yet, then Mum can’t get away from him for more than an hour or two at a time.
I’m all for restaurants that don’t really cater to kids. But a young, breastfeeding baby is someone who really can’t be apart from his mum. I don’t really think you need to go out of your way to accommodate young children, but really, a three-month-old? They are just an extra appendage on their mum at that age.
I think what annoys me the most about this is the restaurant-owner’s attitude (and society’s attitude in general) toward breastfeeding. It’s a bar. There are going to be women in the bar with necklines plunging down to their navels. There is going to be a fair amount of flirting going on, and no one would really be too surprised if strangers ended up going home together. But God forbid some woman should whip out a boob and nurse her baby. That’s just going too far.