Children Should Not Be In Bars
You know when you go to a restaurant and they say, “It’s a 45 minute wait, but there’s immediate seating in the bar?” Most of the time, I just wait on a table, or go somewhere else. I just don’t like to eat in the bar.
Anyway, T and I were out the other day and there was a long wait, so what the hell? We went to the bar. It was just the two of us and we’re both over 21 (well, just barely). But what I noticed was that we had the only table that did not have at least one child at it. Not exaggerating there. The only table. In the bar. There were a couple of tables that had younger teenagers, but most of the tables had very small children. One table had two children in high chairs.
These people weren’t just sitting and waiting on a table. They were eating in the bar. I just have a problem with that. For one, I’m pretty sure you have to be 18 to enter a bar in Indiana. Pretty sure, in that I looked up the code.
IC7.1-5-7-9
Parent taking child into tavern prohibited
Sec. 9. (a) It is a Class C infraction for a parent, guardian, trustee, or other person having custody of a child under eighteen (18) years of age to take that child into a tavern, bar, or other public place where alcoholic beverages are sold, bartered, exchanged, given away, provided, or furnished.
(b) It is a Class C infraction for a permittee to permit the parent, guardian, trustee, or other person having custody of the child under eighteen (18) years of age to be in or around the prohibited place with the child.
(Formerly: Acts 1973, P.L.55, SEC.1.) As amended by Acts 1982, P.L.69, SEC.17; P.L.102-1983, SEC.6.
But also, it was way loud in the bar. More than in the restaurant. The babies in the high chair were clearly uncomfortable and crying every time the drunk guy a few feet away screamed some racist crap at the top of his lungs. (I felt like crying at that, too. But mainly because I was embarrassed and ashamed of him.)
More than anything, though, I was reminded of the scene from “Sweet Home Alabama,” where Reece Witherspoon’s character says “Oh, you’ve got a baby! …in a bar…” And we, in the audience, laugh at how hee-haw and uneducated that woman is.
And yet, as I look around the bar… everyone? Is it an Indiana thing? Are we the ignorant hicks the rest of the country thinks we are?
Anyway, T and I were out the other day and there was a long wait, so what the hell? We went to the bar. It was just the two of us and we’re both over 21 (well, just barely). But what I noticed was that we had the only table that did not have at least one child at it. Not exaggerating there. The only table. In the bar. There were a couple of tables that had younger teenagers, but most of the tables had very small children. One table had two children in high chairs.These people weren’t just sitting and waiting on a table. They were eating in the bar. I just have a problem with that. For one, I’m pretty sure you have to be 18 to enter a bar in Indiana. Pretty sure, in that I looked up the code.
IC7.1-5-7-9
Parent taking child into tavern prohibited
Sec. 9. (a) It is a Class C infraction for a parent, guardian, trustee, or other person having custody of a child under eighteen (18) years of age to take that child into a tavern, bar, or other public place where alcoholic beverages are sold, bartered, exchanged, given away, provided, or furnished.
(b) It is a Class C infraction for a permittee to permit the parent, guardian, trustee, or other person having custody of the child under eighteen (18) years of age to be in or around the prohibited place with the child.
(Formerly: Acts 1973, P.L.55, SEC.1.) As amended by Acts 1982, P.L.69, SEC.17; P.L.102-1983, SEC.6.
But also, it was way loud in the bar. More than in the restaurant. The babies in the high chair were clearly uncomfortable and crying every time the drunk guy a few feet away screamed some racist crap at the top of his lungs. (I felt like crying at that, too. But mainly because I was embarrassed and ashamed of him.)
More than anything, though, I was reminded of the scene from “Sweet Home Alabama,” where Reece Witherspoon’s character says “Oh, you’ve got a baby! …in a bar…” And we, in the audience, laugh at how hee-haw and uneducated that woman is. And yet, as I look around the bar… everyone? Is it an Indiana thing? Are we the ignorant hicks the rest of the country thinks we are?
posted by Patwoman | 7:00 AM
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